Photo from PNA
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is urging everyone to help the government in taking steps to prepare for El Niño as it warned that the country’s rice production could drastically decrease due to the anticipated strong impact of the phenomenon later this year.
According to DA officials, the impact of El Niño if unabated could result with rice harvest dropping by as much as 700,000 metric tons or about 3.5 percent of the normal output,
In response, the agency has reconvened its El Niño task force to discuss plans fire a number of mitigating measures that include cloud seeding to boost rainfall, the installation of solar-powered irrigation systems, changes in the planting schedule to correspond with the northeast monsoon or habagat and promoting crop diversification.
“These appear to be reasonable steps and might, in fact, be the practical limit of what the DA can do. What is concerning, however, is that so far, we have heard little to nothing from any other agency about preparations for what will almost certainly be a calamitous climactic event,” agriculture secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. pointed out.
” The problem we are facing here in the Philippines is one of a sort of complacency. The country has experienced the effects of El Niño numerous times and there is a sense among government officials and the public alike that we know what to expect,” he added.
In the meantime, the agri chief announced that they will be taking steps such as those described above to mitigate the impact on the farm sector while the public health sector will heighten its vigilance of heat-related health concernsand local government units will be reminded to review and adjust their typhoon and weather disaster response plans in case strong storms hit the country.
“What may be coming, or what we are being told now is almost certainly coming, will very likely overwhelm those preparations and cause problems in areas that are not even being considered at the moment,” Laurel noted.
As an example, he cited that a prolonged period of hotter-than-normal weather would put a severe strain on the country’s already stretched-thin energy infrastructure, not just in terms of supply, but also in terms of the additional costs that will be borne by consumers during a time when food prices will be elevated due to the effects of El Niño on agricultural output.
He also mentioned that the impact of drought conditions would likewise put water supplies at risk, something that was experienced but never really solved during the last strong El Niño in 2014–2016.
In ending Laurel underscored that the key in responding to the phenomenon is to initiate a unified and whole-of-nation approach in mitigating its effects on the agriculture sector: “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”