THE DRY SEASON, sometimes referred to as summer, in the Philippines is usually associated with a long, dry spell. But in recent years, in some parts of the country it is raining – and even flooding, affecting vast tracts of agricultural lands – like it is already the wet season. The unpredictable mood swings of the weather only reaffirms that climate change is upon us. And this greatly affects the supply of agricultural products nationwide.
Our weird climate creates a chain reaction and there are areas that get adversely affected. These include the people’s health and the agriculture sector, which in turn affects the supply of food. It will do us good if we have institutionalized crop forecasting, agro-meteorology and similar modern agricultural tools to assist the agriculture sector, ensure food production and to enable the farmers to mitigate the impacts of either a long, dry spell or storms or floods. The mitigation of the risks of climate change and other environmental challenges should be a priority.
One innovative way to avoid the effects brought about by violent weather factors such as prolonged dry spells or storms is through crop forecasting and other modern agricultural tools. Crop forecasting is the “art” of predicting crop yields (in terms of tons per hectare) and production before the harvest actually takes place, typically a couple of months in advance. Agro-meteorology, on the other hand, is the study and application of relationships between meteorology and agriculture, involving problems such as timing the planting of crops, and examining the effects and impacts of weather and climate on crops, rangeland, livestock, and various agricultural operations.
The United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention aims to formulate policies and implement realistic programs to contribute in the effort to reduce and stabilize the effects of climate change while ensuring that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner. The Philippines is a signatory to this. The framework should not remain on paper. Our government must put this into concrete action.
