The fourth issue of the JPAD contains studies on community participation in rice security programs, performance of the Rice Crop Insurance Program, challenges in climate information service provisioning, adoption and implementation of TQM/ISO 9001, role of internal revenue allotments in decentralization and achieving shared growth, self-assessed knowledge and farm practices of climate field school graduates, and lastly, adaptation practices of rice farmers.

In the first article, Martins and Dizon explored the factors affecting community participation in the rice security programs in Cailaco and Maliana, Timor-Leste. The study revealed the beneficiaries’ very favorable attitude toward joining farmers’ groups and very high trust toward co-farmers and farmers’ group. Using binary logistic regression, results showed that the farmers were fully involved from project identification, planning, implementation, and up to monitoring and evaluation. Specifically, year of membership in farmers’ group and trust in co-farmers significantly affected problem identification. Household size, adequate income for family support, and year of membership in farmers’ group affected planning; age and financial resources were related to implementation; and age affected monitoring and evaluation

Using both primary and secondary data sources, the paper by Rola and Querijero assessed the performance of the Rice Crop Insurance Program (RCIP) of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) to explain the low number of insured farmers and suggest ways to improve the program’s efficiency and effectiveness. Having found the RCIP to be moderately effective, this study recommends that the PCIC should: a) intensify technical capacity-building training for the team of adjusters; b) deputize officers and staff of the municipal agricultural office as members of the team of adjusters; c) provide stronger and more hands-on assistance to participating farmers; and d) increase the incentives and number of personnel involved in RCIP implementation.

The collaborative research by Elazegui, Rola, Luyun, Anastacio, Faderagao, and Alvarez described the global and national policies on climate information services (CIS) as well as the institutions involved in provisioning through the characterization of pathways from data generation to dissemination. Further, it identified the various intermediary users of the CIS and how CIS are ultimately disseminated to the municipal agricultural offices and the farmers. Their paper concludes that the Philippines needs a better system to provide climate information through more modern technologies, improved capacities, and more stable institutional partnerships, among others. To sustain or bolster the provisioning of CIS, they further recommend that there must be compliance to standards in the establishment, use, and maintenance of the CIS equipment; improved capacities in the dissemination; and commitment of partners to institutionalize collaboration among the providers and the users of CIS.

De Leon’s case study investigated the adoption and implementation of TQM/ISO 9001 programs in selected Philippine state universities. His study revealed that total quality management (TQM) was regarded as a holistic approach to the continuous improvement of work processes while International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001 was perceived as an international quality management system (QMS) standard and a quality assessment instrument. The study recommends programs that minimize resistance to and promote internalization of TQM/ISO 9001 adoption and the creation of a government certifying body that can serve as an alternative to the private international certifying bodies.

In a macro study, Maquito shed light on the role of internal revenue allotments in decentralization to help the Philippines achieve shared growth. Results showed that growth in the Philippines has been more of the inclusive than the shared growth type. Moreover, the research article tendered arguments against two criticisms of the internal revenue allocation (IRA) formula, thereby effectively revealing the potential of the IRA to contribute to shared growth. Recommendations were given for future research on crucial causalities, for example, among IRA, per capita income, population growth through internal migration, as well as the causalities underlying the dynamics among average income, poverty incidence, and income distribution.

At the farmer’s level, the paper by Ruelos, Umali, Olviga, Villa, Jacobo, Paunlagui, and Rola presents the results of the study that disseminated the Palayamanan technology through the climate field school (CFS) in rainfed areas in Bicol. Findings pointed to significant differences in the pre-test and post-test scores especially on the clustered topics of climate, land preparation and seedling establishment, soil nutrient management, pest management, and harvesting. Due to varying results, the study highlighted the need to conduct similar study that investigates other factors or variables that could affect farmer’s participation in the CFS. Overall, the paper concludes that CFS as a mode of extension delivery in rainfed areas is still in its infancy stage. Furthermore, more funds can be poured into strengthening its curriculum as well as capacitating the agricultural technicians to be competent resource persons.

Lastly, the farmer’s level study by Khaing, Baconguis, Serrano, Sta Cruz, and Cambel analyzed the association of adaptation practices on production and income of rice farmers in Myinmu Township, Myanmar. Results revealed that adaptation practices were categorized into changing cultivated varieties and crops, changing farming systems, conserving rain water, improving irrigation systems, and engaging in non-farm activities. Factors associated with adaptation practices were type of agriculture (ecosystem), total cultivated area, total rice cultivated area, credit accessibility, attendance to training programs and access to inputs. In sum, results shed light on the observable pattern of increased weather variability and minimal adaptation practices, which calls for a more vigorous extension intervention to promote practices that can minimize the impact of weather variability on farmers’ production and income.