Lyka Vera B. Sierra
BS – ABM
CRP002 – MN2
11.09.2021
Philippine National IPM Programme: KASAKALIKASAN
The article is about the national IPM program revitalized by former President Fidel
V. Ramos called KASAKALIKASAN, which stands for Kasaganaan ng Sakahan at
Kalikasan. It is the standard approach to crop husbandry and pest management in major
areas of rice, corn and vegetables in the Philippines. The program aims to train farmers
and empower them to become experts in their own fields. In this review, I will summarize
the history of KASAKALIKASAN, its curriculum up to the present time, its application, and
did it really help the farmers. Additionally, I will also tackle if it is still practiced until today
or it was already neglected by the government.
The KASAKALIKASAN is the local name for the Philippine National Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) Program launched in May 3, 1993. The program has been
extraordinarily successful in applying an experimental learning approach to enable farmers
to practice IPM in Farmer Field Schools (FFSs). Results indicated that the participatory,
experiential, and discovery-based learning technique used by KASAKALIKASAN was effective in
enhancing farmers’ ecological knowledge and skills in growing healthy crops. It is experiential,
discovery-based, group-oriented, involves critical thinking and adopts a horizontal relationship
among learners and trainers. Its learning process revolves around the following basic practices:
