Sen. Lapid pushes for a climate-resilient Philippine agriculture

Senator Manuel "Lito" Lapid has filed a bill which seeks to build a climate-resilient agriculture in the country by enhancing the adaptability of farmers to adverse weather and climate events.

Senate Bill 1912 proposes to institutionalize the use of crop climate calendars to equip our farmers for climate-sensitive decision-making. The bill also suggests to provide access to localized weather and climate information.

With almost 20 typhoons and storms visiting the country every year, the damage and devastation caused by these adverse weather conditions reach to billions of pesos especially in the agricultural sector.

In 2019 alone, P16 Billion worth of agricultural damage was left by typhoons that hit the country while in 2018, the figure is a staggering P34.45 Billion.

Just recently, typhoons Quinta, Rolly and Ulysses pounded huge parts of Luzon and inflicted P10 Billion-worth of damage to our agriculture sector, with reportedly 150,000 farmers affected.

"Sa likod ng mga nakalululang numerong ito at halaga ng mga nawasak at nasayang na pananim ay mga buhay ng ating mga magsasaka at ng kanilang pamilya na nalulubog din sa kumunoy tuwing may bagyo. Kasabay kasing inaanod at winawasak ng mga bagyo ang kanilang pamumuhay kung saan nagmumula ang pantustos nila sa pang-araw-araw na pangangailangan. Kaya panahon na para kumilos ang ating gobyerno para tulungan ang sektor ng agrikultura at siguruhing kaya nitong makasabay sa mga hamon ng climate change gaya ng mga bagyo," Lapid said.

Senator Lapid also suggested that "innovative ideas and technologies, as well as proven best practices must be tried, tested and eventually implemented to assist our farmers in managing the effects of climate change and weather disturbances."

Under this measure, the Department of Agriculture (DA) shall institutionalize the use of crop climate calendars throughout the Philippines. A crop climate calender is defined as "a visual tool that presents the phenology and cultivation practices of a crop against the timeline of the cropping season, containing information on the weather and climate states that occur in the locality and the risks faced by the crop."

The bill also mandates the DA to equip all famers and farmers' organizations in the formulation, use and interpretation of crop climate calendars that are tailor-made for each specific locality. These crop climate calendars shall be distributed free-of-charge.

The DA shall also provide regular appropriate training and capacity-building for farmers and farmers' organizations in the practice of climate sensitive decision-making and the use of relevant tools and applications.

"Sa ilalim ng ating panukalang batas, inaatasan din natin ang DA na bumuo ng malinaw at maayos na mga briefer at materyal gaya ng charts, tables at diagrams na madaling maintindihan ng ating mga magsasaka. Malaki ang maitutulong ng mga ito para sa matalinong pagdedesisiyon kung kailan ang tamang panahon ng pagtatanim at pag-aani. Malaking bagay din ito para makaiwas na masayang ang kanilang pananim sa tuwing hahagupit ang mga bagyo," Lapid explained.

SB 1912 also mandates the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration or PAGASA to provide regular and up-to-date localized weather and climate information to city, municipal and provincial agriculturist's offices and directly to the farmers themselves through all available means of communication and information dissemination (internet, social media, television and radio).

This information must be written in simple English, Filipino and other regional language or dialect as necessary and must be presented in easily understandable form.