38. ATTITUDES RELATED TO FORESTRY AND AGROFORESTRY OF SMALLHOLDER TREE FARMERS ON LEYTE ISLAND, THE PHILIPINNES Mayet N. Sevare, Samuel O. Bernaldez, Steve Harrison, John Herbohn and Eduardo O. Mangaoang This paper reports the findings of a socio-economic survey undertaken as part of the ACIAR project ASEM/2003/053 titled ‘Improving Financial Returns for Smallholder Tree Farmers in the Philippines’. This study is part of Research Objective 3 which is to identify and promote livelihood systems and policies which incorporate forestry and which recognize the socio-economic circumstances of smallholders. The survey examined the intentions and aspirations of smallholders with regard to adopting tree farming on Leyte Island. Data were gathered through personal interviews with tree farmers in seven sampling municipalities − five in Leyte province and two in Southern Leyte provinces on Leyte Island − using a semi-structured questionnaire. Farmers were asked to state the most important reasons for planting and managing trees on their land as well as the most important problems seen as obstacles to planting more trees on their land. This was designed to gather baseline information on farming systems particularly farmers’ capacities and experience of tree farming, in order to assist in the promotion of tree farming. The data collected are being integrated with data from other fieldwork on tree measurement and timber enterprises. INTRODUCTION The Philippines is an ideal setting for the implementation of a nationwide tree farming program. The country has an adequate area to plant, farmers who can be tapped and materials for planting. However, the tree farming industry in the country still has little status (Aggangan 2003). A series of forestry research projects funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is being carried out on Leyte Island. Leyte Island has an area of 750,000 ha, a population of 1.53 M as of the 1992 Census and a literacy rate of 94%. The island is divided into two provinces, Leyte and Southern Leyte. Leyte Province has a total land area of 571,208 ha with 35% remaining under forest cover. There are two dialects, namely Cebuano on the western portion and Waray on the eastern side (Gregorio et al 2004). Aggangan (2003) stated that tree farming provides alternative sustainable sources of raw materials for the wood-based industries and at the same time contributes to environmental protection. Tree farming also improves the microclimate condition of the area and reduces soil erosion and siltation of rivers and streams. In Leyte Province in the Philippines, planted trees provide both financial and environmental benefits, including timber for own use and timber sale, soil protection, an asset for future generations and shade for crops. One means to make up the deficit in timber supplies has been to encourage timber planting by smallholders (Cedamon et al. 2005). The socio-economic survey being conducted as a component of the ACIAR project, has the objectives of determining the intentions and aspirations of smallholder tree farmers with regard to adopting tree farming; determining the reasons and constraints for tree planting of smallholder tree farmers; and examining measures and conditions to encourage smallholder tree farmers to engage in tree farming. RESEARCH METHOD Site Selection Seven municipalities were selected at random for sampling tree farmers on Leyte Island. These include Anahawan and Libagon in Southern, Leyte, and Bato, Hindang, Isabel, Leyte and Dulag in Leyte Province by using Proportional Probability to size (PPS) sampling design.