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Chapter 7 of 17

Climate-resilient agriculture: The Cacao Project with Louise Mabulo

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Louise Mabulo

Age when she came up with the solution: 18

Location: Camarines Sur, Philippines

Louise was born in Manila, grew up in Wales (UK) and later settled in Camarines Sur, Philippines. Her passion for cooking led her into chef contests from the age of 12 and she pursued courses in Australia, Britain, Thailand and the United States on her way to winning awards and becoming a television cooking star, dubbed a “Culinary Prodigy” by the “Philippine Tatler” magazine. But an environmental catastrophe was about to change the direction of her life.

In 2016, typhoon Nock-ten laid waste to over 80% of agricultural land within the San Fernando region of Louise’s native Philippines. Farmers needed urgent help to reinstate their livelihoods, generate income and alleviate the local food shortage. Looking longer-term, Louise foresaw the bigger problem for Philippine farming in general: lack of youth engagement in the field of agriculture, widely viewed as an unprofitable business. Young farmers were not stepping up to replace the dying breed of existing farmers.

"My advice to young people is to rethink the world you exist in, and address the preconceived notions and ideas you may have."

- Louise Mabulo, Founder of The Cacao Project

Louise Mabulo's solution: The Cacao Project

Louise founded The Cacao Project in 2016 in response to the devastating effects of typhoon Nock-ten. Her vision for the initiative was to provide participating farmers of San Fernando with cacao seedlings (a long-term, resilient crop which provides them with a higher income and will be productive for up to 20-25 years) and short-term crops such as bok choi, okra and pumpkins (which will be productive after 19-30 days) to intercrop with the cacao, plus other resources and training.

Photo source: UNEP

The goal is also to “promote agriculture as a more dignified trade, ensure better and fair pay for farmers, and to create more food-secure communities,” thus making a lasting difference economically and environmentally. The Cacao Project has a winning offer to attract student interest in agriculture: chocolates!

Photo Source: The Cacao Project

To date, The Cacao Project has planted 70,000 cacao trees - benefitting over 200 farmers - and reforested 85 hectares of land. In 2018, Louise was named “Outstanding Young Farmer in the Philippines”, and in 2019, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) honored her with the title “Young Champion of the Earth - Asia and the Pacific.” You can read more about The Cacao Project on their website.

Photo source: Louise Mabulo

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Key Concepts

Climate

Adaptation

Climate

Mitigation

Climate

Adaptation

It is the adjustments societies or ecosystems make to limit the negative effects of climate change or to take advantage of opportunities provided by a changing climate. (1)

Climate mitigation and adaptation in agriculture

While mitigation addresses the root causes of climate change, such as by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation seeks to lower the risks posed by the consequences of climatic changes. Farmers across the world can put into action these two types of practices in order to make their production more climate-resilient. Through these, they can reduce local temperatures and increase precipitation and water availability, reduce the impact of extreme weather events on crops, livestock, and other products, reduce soil erosion, boost productivity, and improve their quality of life by increasing the amount of produce for subsistence or to sell. (WRI)

Examples of steps that can be taken to achieve climate-resilient agriculture include:

Diversifying crops and mixing up production (crops with livestock or forestry, for example).
Rehabilitating pastures by planting native forage or introducing trees that reduce soil erosion.
Engaging in agroforestry - integrating trees and crops in an intentionally designed system that allows the fields to be productive all year round. (8)

Photo Source: WRI

Climate-Sensitive Agriculture

Agriculture is one of the sectors most vulnerable to changes in the climate. With the increase of global warming and the worsening of climate change, extreme weather patterns become more common. Disasters such as droughts, floods, earthquakes, or as mentioned in Louise’s video, typhoons become more frequent and more severe. Millions of farmers across the world are especially vulnerable to these disasters, which can ruin their entire harvests, destroying their source of income and usually their main source of food. Expert assessments warn that climate change could decrease global crop yields up to 30% by 2050, putting approximately 50 million more people at risk of undernourishment. (5)

Photo Source: FAO

The impact of climate change on agriculture

Although climate change will impact national and global agricultural industries negatively, it will especially impact impoverished rural communities in developing countries whose livelihoods depend upon small-scale agriculture. (6) Part of the problem is the fact that agriculture is an important contributor to climate change: it releases large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and drives deforestation through the conversion of non-agricultural land such as forests into agricultural land. Sustaining growth in agricultural production is essential to meeting the increasing global demand for resources (7); however, making agriculture more sustainable and more resilient to climate change is equally important to ensure access to those agricultural resources.

Read more about agriculture’s vulnerability to climate change here.

Climate mitigation and adaptation in agriculture

Examples of steps that can be taken to achieve climate-resilient agriculture include:

Diversifying crops and mixing up production (crops with livestock or forestry, for example).
Rehabilitating pastures by planting native forage or introducing trees that reduce soil erosion.
Engaging in agroforestry - integrating trees and crops in an intentionally designed system that allows the fields to be productive all year round. (8)

Photo Source: WRI

Climate-Sensitive Agriculture

Photo Source: FAO

The impact of climate change on agriculture

Read more about agriculture’s vulnerability to climate change here.

Climate mitigation and adaptation in agriculture

Examples of steps that can be taken to achieve climate-resilient agriculture include:

Diversifying crops and mixing up production (crops with livestock or forestry, for example).
Rehabilitating pastures by planting native forage or introducing trees that reduce soil erosion.
Engaging in agroforestry - integrating trees and crops in an intentionally designed system that allows the fields to be productive all year round. (8)

Photo Source: WRI

Other change-makers addressing agriculture adaptation

Wefarm (United Kingdom and Kenya)

BioPrime Agrisolutions (India)

Do you have questions?

Ask The Earth Prize Mentors!

References

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Innovative technology to clean up floating plastics from oceans and rivers with The Ocean CleanUp

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