A weather phenomenon named by Peruvian fishermen after the Christ child is threatening to upset food production in the Philippines. Dubbed “El Niño,” which is Spanish for “the Child,” it is now wreaking havoc on crops production. An initial assessment made by the Department of Agriculture (DA) said El Niño has already destroyed at least P150 million worth of major cash crops, such as rice and corn. (See Initial damage to farms from El Niño hits P150M, BusinessMirror, March 4, 2019).
Farmers could incur more losses in the coming months as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) projected that the country would experience a “full-blown” El Niño in the coming months. From now until June, Pagasa said 19 provinces will likely experience drought, while some 50 provinces could see “way below normal rainfall.” Drought is devastating particularly to farmers planting rice because the crop requires a lot of water. Rain-fed farms in affected areas, or those relying on rain for irrigation, may not be able to plant rice in the first half.
El Niño episodes are not new in the Philippines. The weather phenomenon had wreaked havoc mostly on crops production and forced the government to import some 2 million metric tons (MMT) of rice in 1998 and in 2010. Production of the staple fell as El Niño dried up farms and destroyed standing rice crops.
These episodes, however, should have taught the national government to put in place a mechanism that could be activated once the state weather bureau confirms that El Niño (or La Niña) would affect the country. This would require the cooperation of local government units (LGUs) as agriculture extension services have been devolved to them. Local agriculturists could help the national government carry out activities that will help farmers prepare for and cope with the ill effects of climate change.
There are available technologies that farmers can tap so they can cope with the ill effects of climate change. When El Niño threatened the country in 2016, the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) urged farmers to plant early-maturing varieties, such as PSB Rc10 (Pagsanjan), NSIC Rc130 (Tubigan 3) and NSIC Rc152 (Tubigan 10), in lowland irrigated areas. Those in upland areas could consider planting drought-tolerant varieties, such as the PSB Rc80 (Pasig), PSB Rc9 (Apo) and NSIC Rc23 (Katihan 1).
The attached agency of the DA also told farmers to use water-saving technologies, such as controlled irrigation or alternate wetting and drying, aerobic rice, drip irrigation and reduced tillage technology. The DA must reach out to farmers in areas that will be hit by El Niño. While information is available on the web site of PhilRice, not many farmers have access to the Internet. The DA must mobilize municipal agriculture officers in affected areas so they can assist the national government in educating farmers on El Niño-ready technologies.
The onslaught of El Niño comes at a worse time because of the changes in the country’s rice trade regime due to Republic Act 11203. El Niño would only compound the difficulties confronting farmers and traders with the implementation of the rice trade liberalization law. Stakeholders in the rice industry are still adjusting to the changes and it doesn’t help that the rules for bringing in imports remain unclear.
Economic managers expect the law’s implementation to reduce the prices of rice by as much as P7 per kilogram. But its impact will not be immediate, so the government must act fast if it wants to temper inflation. The government must remember that traders took advantage of the depletion in the buffer stock of the National Food Authority and the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law to jack up food prices last year.