The memory banking project was conducted in two areas of Bukidnon Province, southern Philippines: Sitio Intavas in the municipality of Impasug-ong, an upland area on the slope of Mt. Kitanglad (1,200 m above sea level); and Sitio Salvacion in the municipality of Libona, a plateau 303 m above sea level near the pineapple plantation of Del Monte (Fig. 1). In Bukidnon waves of migrants from Luzon and Visayas have interacted, worked and intermarried with the local population superimposing and reworking agricultural technologies to fit the existing environmental and socioeconomic conditions.
The population of Intavas, composed of native Bulkidnons, migrants from the Mountain Province (referred to as Igorots), and migrants from the Visayas (referred to as "Dumagats" because they came from across the seas [dagat]) cultivate different varieties of sweet potato side by side and harvest what they like on a staggered basis. People regard sweet potato as "tambal sa gutom" or cure for hunger. As one farmer informant put it:
Even during the dry season, a sure harbinger of hard times, sweet potato does not die and will always produce edible roots. If we have nothing to eat, we just harvest this crop roots as well as leaves and our hunger problem is solved.In Intavas, farmers sell only what cannot be consumed by the family and by their pigs. Commercial crop production is concentrated on semitemperate vegetables like cabbage, sweet pepper, and tomato an agricultural option introduced by the migrants from the Mountain Province who found the climate in Intavas very similar to their own high-altitude climate. Other important cash crops are corn, coffee, and, to a lesser extent, cassava.
In contrast, many people in Salvacion, mostly Visayan migrants, cultivate sweet potato on a moderately commercial scale. Some have found sweet potato production to be more lucrative than corn production. Consequently, an increasing proportion of land is being converted into sweet potato fields. One farmer who grows and markets sweet potato calculates its profitability this way:
As I compare the two crops, one corn plant can bear two fruits while one cutting of sweet potato can produce six roots. If you sell them, sweet potato tubers will bring in P60.00 per can while corn will bring in P25.00 per can. In addition to that, you can still harvest sweet potato three times a year on a staggered basis while with corn, you can harvest only once.On the whole, the agricultural system in Salvacion is more commercialized than that in Intavas perhaps as a result of its geographic location and its ethnic composition. But it must be emphasized that the difference in commercialization of sweet potato production between the two sites is a matter of degree (Table 1). Comparing them provides us with insights into the concomitants of commercialization with the advantage of seeing subtler differences before a state of polarity is reached. Figure 5 shows that crop diversity (more kinds of crops planted and greater uniformity or evenness of frequency of planting) is greater in Intavas than in Salvacion.
| Activities in sweet potato-growing households | Intavas (%) | Salvacion (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Eating and giving away 100% of total production | 70.6 | 54.4 |
| Selling less than 30% of total production | 19.6 | 19.3 |
| Selling between 30% to 60% of total production | 9.8 | 21.0 |
| Selling over 60% of total production | 0 | 5.3 |