The Landcare Foundation of the Philippines, Inc. (LFPI) is a non-profit and non-stock non-government organisation (NGO), based in the Mindanao and Visayas regions of the southern Philippines. It was established by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), now known as the World Agroforestry Centre, in September 2003, as a mechanism to help develop the landcare movement in its pioneer sites in the provinces of Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon in northern Mindanao.

 

Since those early beginnings, LFPI has grown its operations to several sites in northern, southern and western Mindanao and into the province of Bohol in the Visayas. The organisation has also matured into a vibrant self-managed NGO with a wide and diverse range of programs, committed to developing and maintaining the landcare movement throughout the Philippines.

 

Landcare is a farmer-centred and farmer-led, group-based approach to agricultural extension, aimed at improving rural livelihoods on a sustainable basis. Landcare in the Philippines is an alternative model for extension adaptable for local government units, national government agencies and other key development players. It is a people-centred approach for extension that brings all key stakeholders in the community together to learn and jointly address a broad range of livelihood and natural resource management issues. The issues may be degradation of resources on the farm, low farm productivity, poor marketing systems or even bigger issues that affect the wider community. Landcare holds great promise for the nation as an effective means of addressing these issues.

 

Services

Together with our partners, we provide the following services:

1. Project development and management. We develop project proposals for interested organisations or groups.
2. Project implementation. We manage or serve as partners in the implementation of projects for local and international donors, NGOs and development agencies.
3. Capacity building. We provide capacity building services to Peoples Organisations (POs) and Local Government Units (LGUs). For POs, our services are mainly in the fields of developing and improving farming systems, developing agro-enterprise clusters, strengthening community organisations, and managing farmer-based R&D. For LGUs, our services are mainly in the fields of transferring technology, facilitating NRM-based Barangay Development Plans, and managing micro-watersheds.
4. Technical assistance. We provide technical assistance in research-based improvement of farming and marketing systems, and participatory technology development.
5. Mainstreaming Landcare. We provide policy advocacy, LGU program development, NRM-based Barangay Development Planning, and development of community-based extension teams and para-legal groups.