A brief overview of Community Supported Agricuture (CSA) in the Philippines post-2014 disaster

Agriculture in the Philippines has long been marked by small-holders encouraged to invest in export-oriented cash crops, especially coconut oil and sugar-cane.  The obvious risk for both local populations and the producers is a loss of food sovereignty and, in the worst of cases, a loss of food security.

This was precisely the situation that occurred when Hurricane Haiyan hit the Philippines in 2014, with an estimated loss of 700 million$-worth of agricultural production and infrastructure. 74% of fishermen and 77% of farmers lost their property and source of income, including in such sustainable producer-owned projects as seaweed farming. In recent years there has been strong development in the Philippines of a solidarity economy-based urban-rural movement, and there have been increasing linkages developed between urban and rural areas to both feed the cities and ensure producers have access to local markets that provide them with decent income.