Peasant colonisation in Mindanao, The Philippines
Creators: name: Krinks, Peter A.
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 1970

description: This thesis is an empirical study of the unguided colonisation of land in Mindanao by migrants from other islands in the Philippines. Land settlement is widely believed to have a valuable part to play in the economic development of countries that have large areas of vacant land, but evidence from many areas suggests that this role may not be fulfilled. Economic and demographic data on the Philippines illustrate the need for increased agricultural productivity, not merely increased production through the development of new land. The first chapter is based largely on secondary sources and presents firstly a brief review of the growth and distribution of Philippine population and the institutional arrangements designed to encourage the orderly occupation of public lands. A description of' recent agrarian conditions in the most densely settled areas is followed by a short account of' the development of Davao province" This notes the role of' Japanese entrepreneurs up to 1941 and the emergence of problems of squatting, tenancy and diminishing farm sizes with rapid immigration after 1945. The fieldwork area was the municipality of Mawab in northern Davao. The municipality comprises a plain entirely surrounded by rugged hills. The first immigrant arrived in 1919, when the area was inhabited by a few hundred shifting cultivators, and by 1967 the population of almost 12,000 consisted mainly of immigrants. The location, area and tenure of land that a settler acquired were greatly influenced by the time at which he arrived in Mawab. The earliest settlers were able to obtain free homesteads up to the legal maximum size of 24 ha, covering most of the centre of the plain. By the late 1930s, most immigrants could obtain areas only one half or one fourth as large. By 1950, all the plain was occupied and new immigrants who could not afford to buy land became squatters in the hills, tenants in the plain or labourers. As land values have begun to increase rapidly, tenants and labourers can rarely save enough to buy land. As immigration continues, mean farm sizes have become smaller, making capital formation by tenants and squatters difficult. Most available land is bought either by non-residents or by wealthy pioneers with large landholdings. Such people may also obtain land by foreclosing on unredeemed mortgage loans made to small farmers. It is suggested that conditions of the tenure and size of farms will increasingly resemble those in the migrant source areas. The early development of Mawab depended on virtual monoculture of abaca, but in the mid-1950s disease and low prices led to its gradual removal. The most profitable alternative crop was lowland rice; however, only people in the centre and north of the Mawab plain had land suitable for rice fields, and most of this area was occupied by pioneers with large homesteads. In other parts of the plain and in the hills, abaca was replaced by less profitable crops such as corn, coconuts and coffee. Land use seems to be determined as much by short-term economic considerations as by the suitability of land for particular crops. Planned crop rotations are rare and hill farms in particular may suffer severe soil erosion on exposed areas under temporary crops. Methods of crop production in general are little different from those used in the migrant source areas, although many individuals have adopted techniques from their neighbours. The most significant recent innovations in crop production have been in rice growing and they tend to be labour-saving or crop-protecting inputs rather than directly yield-increasing inputs. The leading innovators have been the wealthy pioneers, particularly those of the Ilocano cultural group, but few people have adopted the full range of innovations. necessary to achieve the maximum possible yields with their current crop varieties. Yields, however, are considerably higher than those of the source areas, while shares of output received by tenant farmers and by labourers are also usually more favourable than in their home areas. Apart from becoming the owners of large holdings in the most accessible parts of the plain, the earliest settlers were also able to benefit from periods of high prices for abaca and, later, from their occupation of land suitable for lowland rice. These advantages have made considerable capital formation possible. Apart from high levels of consumption, the pioneers have been able to afford education for their children, making it possible for some to obtain permanent employment as teachers, professional men or civil servants. This reduces the probability of fragmentation of the pioneers' large holdings through inheritance, which is beginning to occur with the farms of smaller owners who arrived later. Low incomes associated with small farms, share tenancy and unfavourable locations make capital formation difficult for more recent settlers, whether owners, tenants or squatters. Their lack of financial reserves makes borrowing necessary in emergencies, but repayment of large loans is difficult, particularly when loans are of the prenda type by which the borrower loses the usufruct of his land until the loan is repaid. It is likely that two trends in farm sizes and ownership will ~merge: some farms will be subdivided through inheritance arid in emergencies the resulting smaller operating units will be sold or mortgaged, in whole or in Part. On the other hand, wealthier farmers and businessmen will enlarge their holdings by purchases or by foreclosure on unredeemed mortgages. It is unlikely that non-farm employment will expand at a rate sufficient to absorb a growing number of landless settlers. Comparisons with the processes of spontaneous colonisation in Indonesia, Burma and Costa Rica show several similarities with those in the Philippines, although none of these countries has had a coherent legal framework for colonisation like the Philippines. In these countries, as in the Philippines, the development of new land has often made possible valuable increases in agricultural output and many settlers have experienced dramatic improvements in their levels of living. However, much evidence indicates that improvements may be only short-term, as new areas have rapidly become prone to problems of land use, land tenure and low incomes associated with diminishing farm sizes. As land reserves in the Philippines have become negligible while the rate of population growth has increased, the role of colonisation as a 'safety valve' has proved to be only temporary and its future role in national economic development is likely to be increasingly circumscribed by the re-creation of the agrarian problems of the densely settled areas.