As early as 1984, the problems besetting the country's ecologically-fragile uplands were sounded out by Charles Castro in his position paper, "Uplands and Uplanders: In Search for New Perspective."

"Even if the Philippine government poured all of its resources, money and talent into expanding the carrying capacity of the lowlands, it would still become all too clear that the next focus for rural development efforts will have to be the uplands," Castro wrote.

"For it is in the uplands where supplementary and additional food sources will be grown. It is in the uplands where landless rural people will find a new option in fighting rural poverty. It is in the uplands where alternatives for fossil fuel requirements may be produced.

"It is in the uplands where consequently new problems of tenure and human rights will be fought, and it is in the uplands where the long-term viability of resources needed by densely populated areas — such as irrigation water, timber and coastal and fishery resources — can be established," Castro added.

In the Philippine context, the uplands are rolling to steep lands, with slopes ranging upward from 18 percent. About 60 percent of the country's total land area of 30 million hectares is considered uplands.

"Poorest of the poor, marginalized, illiterate" are some of the terms used to describe upland farmers in the Philippines. But the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center, a non-government organization based in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, considered them "neglected."

"The upland farmer faces a very dark future unless something can be done for him very soon," said Harold R. Watson, former director of MBRLC. "He is the least educated, least paid, least healthy, least hopeful and most neglected agricultural [sector] of all people in the Philippines."

Governments and research organizations have implemented many upland development projects to put a stop to upland degradation and to alleviate the plight of upland farmers.

That was the aim of the Upland Sustainable Agroforestry Development, which was initiated in Agusan del Sur by then governor Adolph Edward "Eddiebong" G. Plaza in 2013 after typhoon "Pablo" ravaged the province.

More often than not, local governments merely give out seeds, tools and farm equipment to affected farmers. With USAD, "we gave the upland farmers comprehensive support anchored on accountability, assisted by science and nurtured by the provincial government," said Plaza, now a representative of the second district of Agusan del Sur.

Farmers who join the program are called "farmer-enrollees." There are now 5,615 farmer-enrollees. Upland communities with high poverty incidence among farmers are prioritized by the program.

Farmer-members receive farm inputs and materials from planting up to production stage and undergo capacity development in terms of training, seminars, and benchmarking, among others. They are also provided with market linkages for their produce.

In turn, they have to follow the production technologies introduced to them and sustain the project.

USAD, which became the centerpiece program of the provincial government of Agusan del Sur, was chosen in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Outstanding Local Governance Programs in the country.

The success of USAD prodded Plaza to file House Bill 3489, meant to offer "a successful and sustainable convergence program to address lingering poverty and environmental destruction in the uplands," said Plaza, who added that USAD "must be institutionalized with our Department of Agriculture, replicated and hopefully adopted in all provinces."

The USAD program, he said, intends to empower upland communities with innovative techniques and knowledge to cultivate crops, foster biodiversity and increase resilience to climate change.

"By focusing on agroforestry development and promoting multi-layered agricultural systems, we can optimize land usage, increase yields and promote sustainable livelihoods, all while conserving the environment," he stressed.