Tipo-tipo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries, Agricultural Development Cooperative, Tipo-Tipo. Photo courtesy of MAFAR-BARMM.

Earlier this year, the Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) confirmed the presence of leaf fall disease in rubber trees in Mindanao in the south of the country. DENR officials reacted quickly, sending an official request for support to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which triggered the deployment of an emergency mission to the country from 21 April to 3 May 2023.

Rubber production is a crucial economic activity in Mindanao and represents a steady source of income and employment opportunities for many farmers in the area. However, the emergence of leaf fall disease is threatening this important industry. Pestalotiopsis, the causative agent of the disease, rapidly spreads, leading to severe leaf fall and reduced latex production. This ultimately leads to huge economic losses for farmers dependent on the latex harvest.

Joining emergency management and forestry health technical expertise, FAO’s Emergency Management Centre (EMC) and the FAO Forestry Division (NFO), along with the FAO Country Office in the Philippines, guided the deployment of a team of international experts to support the country in its response. Once on the ground, the mission team worked with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MAFAR-BARMM) and the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rubber Research Institute (DA-PRRI) to assess the outbreak in Mindanao, recommend immediate actions, and draft a technical proposal on disease management.

Specifically, the joint team of experts proposed developing an integrated pest management system, implementing community awareness programmes, and establishing a community-based monitoring and surveillance system. These actions were recommended not only to address the immediate concerns related to the disease outbreak but also as a set of suggested longer-term activities that the country could consider in preparing farmers and protecting its rubber plantations from future outbreaks.

The collaboration was part of the project “Strengthening Plant Health Emergency Management Capacity”, jointly managed between FAO's Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP) and EMC. The mission serves as an excellent example of FAO bringing together expertise from various sectors to achieve maximum impact. It also represents a steppingstone towards improved preparedness and response to emergencies affecting the health of various sectors, and was made possible thanks to the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA).

*Since the beginning of 2022, the mandate of FAO EMC was extended to support plant health emergencies. The Centre is working closely with plant health colleagues to adapt its successful preparedness tools to include plant health. The Progressive pathway for emergency preparedness (PPEP) tool is already being tailored to be applicable to that sector and ensure better preparedness for emergencies affecting plants.