TRANSFORMING rice farms to be more resilient to climate change needs more science and technology-enabling “transfarm” to produce climate change-ready crop varieties.
This was the message of Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca), in his speech on “Food on an Increasingly Hot Plate: Climate Change and Food Security,” a Searca news release said.
Gregorio spoke during the first of three webinars under the series, “Pagtugon sa mga Hamon sa Pagbabago sa Klima,” organized by the National Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines (NAST PHL) and The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) Foundation, Inc.
Gregorio, a NAST Academician, added that climate-resilient rice farms also need “quality seeds, mechanization and digitalized farming, nutritional revolution in farming through smart fertilization and water-saving technologies such as drip irrigation.”
With the changing weather patterns, rising sea levels and extreme weather events that have affected economies and lives around the globe, he said the “transformation in our food systems should start with our farmers—from a farmer as a producer-only to a transfarmer.”
Gregorio pointed out that “climate change in agriculture is not just a problem, but [also] a driver for research and business.”
He thus surmised that “agriculture must be treated as [a] business and industry, and our farmers must be transformed to become transfarmers.”
According to NAST Academician Aura G. Matias, the webinar series aims to “inform the general public, particularly the youth, about the changing climate situation in the Philippines and how this will affect the Filipino way of life.”
Gregorio pointed out the strong potential of the youth to create possibilities and new innovations in agriculture. He shared that he developed a solar dryer and a refrigeration system when he was in high school.
“It is good that young people are increasingly aware of the challenges and risks presented by the climate crisis and of the opportunity to achieve sustainable development brought by solutions to climate change,” Gregorio said.
“However, young people are not just victims, but [they] also carry a lot of potentials in carrying out and accelerating climate action. They possess massive power to advocate for change and hold decision-makers accountable,” he said.
“Be the heroes we never were, and do it now,” Gregorio urged the youth.