Raphael Thys
Graphic by Catia Garcia (photo used does not belong to Bye Bye Plastic Bags, all credit is due to its respective owner)
Imagine waking up at six in the morning in your rural home. You start your day by tending to the animals, feeding and washing them. You then go out to work on the fields like a mere machine; individually planting each row of rice, crouched over with your face towards the soil, knee-deep in mud with the sun pounding against your back. Slaving away for hours, only to stop at nightfall. By now your back is aching and you’ve earned no more than 200 pesos to buy you and your family dinner. Tomorrow you will do this all over again, yet you don’t complain. If anything, you’re grateful that while you slept a typhoon didn’t destroy your crops, or that pests didn’t come and eat your food. For almost a third of the Philippine population, this is a reality they cannot escape. Agriculture is their whole life and they must spend every moment thinking about what the future may hold.
Those of us who have ever been subjected to the unbidden intrusion of this kind of imagined life into our thoughts would rather not dwell on it too long. We’d rather not consider the strain, drudgery, and toil that goes into the production of our food, much less how our actions increase the difficulty of producing that food. For people fortunate enough, it is a quick trip to the nearest supermarket where you have the luxury of choosing between a variety of foods. While doing so, we forget about the carbon dioxide emissions that were emitted from the car ride on the way to the supermarket or what will happen to the plastic bag your groceries are in after you’ve kept your food and thrown the bag away. The lack of awareness of the consequences of our actions just adds to the growing impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector.
The agricultural sector in the Philippines plays an integral role in both the economy of the country and social livelihoods of the people. Approximately 10.9 million Filipinos were employed in the agricultural sector as of 2018, accounting for 26% of national employment (Teves) and providing around 10% of the Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Even without direct participation in the agricultural sector, each individual’s actions have an indirect effect on the success of this sector. With that, the most important by far, are our actions that contribute to climate change.
Climate change disrupts food availability, access to food and food quality through the increased variability of weather. Located on the equator, the Philippines has a tropical marine climate. Thus, there are two distinct seasons: wet and dry. The dry season is normally from November to May, which are considered the warmest time of the year, while the wet season is from June to October. Naturally, the wet season is when there is the most rainfall. Additionally, typhoons are relatively common during this time. Despite the frequency of natural hazards, farmers rely on the consistency of this pattern to know the optimum time to plant in order to achieve the greatest harvest. As a result of climate change, local weather patterns have changed significantly, making it increasingly more difficult for farmers to know when to plant their crops.
In recent years the dry season has been longer than ever before. It begins earlier in the year and ends later. This increases the risk of drought. This risk directly affects the amount of water available for irrigation and domestic use as the scarcity of water will cause prices to increase. Increasing prices will make it more difficult for farmers with already low incomes to obtain water for their crops. Furthermore, as most of the country’s major agricultural crops are rain-fed, the lack of rain will limit the variety of crops available for farmers to grow. An example of some of these crops is; rice, coconuts, corn, sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, and mangoes. As a result, farmers must adapt to these changes by either switching to more drought-resistant crops or use pesticides, both of which may be more costly and time-consuming for the farmer. If they are unable to adapt, they risk losing their income as droughts will most likely reduce their crop yields. A reduction in crop yields will not only affect farmers but non-farmers as well. If farmers are unable to grow certain produce due to drought, it decreases the availability of that produce. Therefore, it will no longer be sold in supermarkets or it will be imported and sold at higher prices.
On the other hand, the wet season is becoming shorter but during that short amount of time come more frequent and intense typhoons. Currently, the location of the Philippines makes it highly susceptible to natural hazards such as typhoons and flooding which is amplified with climate change. The Global Climate Risk Index, has listed the Philippines as one of the most affected countries from climate change due to its location. Typhoons are formed when water vapor and heat from the warm ocean transfers to the overlying air primarily by evaporation from the sea surface. As the warm, moist air rises, it cools while releasing latent heat which causes the atmospheric pressure in the center to be lower. The decreasing pressure causes the surface winds to increase, which in turn increases the vapor and heat transfer and contribute to the further rising air. This cycle continues until the typhoon can no longer extract sufficient energy from the warm ocean water. The ocean directly absorbs heat energy from the atmosphere which is what makes the water warmer. With the increase of greenhouse gas emissions, more heat energy is being trapped in our atmosphere. Therefore, there is more heat for the ocean to absorb which creates more frequent and intense typhoons. Although many of the crops grown here in the Philippines rely on a significant amount of rainfall, typhoons increase the likelihood of flooding, which damages crop yields and causes soil erosion. Excessive flooding suffocates crop roots because soil pores become saturated, meaning there is less space for oxygen which is a necessary nutrient needed by the roots in order to survive. Furthermore, once the soil is completely saturated, meaning it is unable to absorb any more water, the precipitation becomes run-off. This run-off will then cause soil erosion as it breaks down the top-soil, dispersing the nutrients it is made of and transports it to other areas. As a result, the land becomes less productive for agriculture. A strong enough typhoon has the ability to wipe out entire crop fields which would be detrimental to a farmer as that is their source of income. Not to mention, long-term consequences such as soil erosion will make it even more difficult to plant crops in the future.
One crop that has suffered greatly under these conditions is rice. The Philippines is one of the top 10 producers of rice and it is considered a staple food in the country, making it one of the most important agricultural crops. Rice is grown in both lowland and upland areas. In upland areas, rice is grown on terraces and relies on irrigation. With this, the lack of water creates unsuitable growing conditions for rice. Additionally, longer dry seasons limit the period that farmers are able to grow rice, which lessens their overall crop yield. In lowland areas, rice is dependent on regular flooding as this area receives on average more rainfall. This is because rice is a semi-aquatic crop and relies on the consistency of water. Hence, they are planted right at the beginning of the wet season. However, the intensification of flooding during the wet season has disrupted rice production. As a result, rice yields have declined and so have the livelihoods of farmers all over the country.
Agriculture is needed for our survival, and in an ever-growing population, there will be more people to feed than ever. In the Philippines alone, 95 children die from malnutrition every day (UNICEF). Despite the importance of agriculture, we tend to overlook the bigger picture of long-term consequences and the need for more sustainable practices and focus on what to buy in the next supermarket trip. As a result, the environment suffers. Since agriculture is almost completely dependent on the environment, climate change will only continue to threaten agricultural practices. Techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation that farmers spend their whole life perfecting will no longer be applicable to the changing environment we are living in right now. Farmers will only be able to adapt and mitigate these changes so much before the land is completely compromised. If that happens, the impoverished population will suffer the most. Already, 20% of the population is living in extreme poverty (Guido), meaning they don’t have enough income to provide for basic needs such as; food, sanitation, and shelter. As food availability worsens, prices will continue to increase which will make it even more difficult for these communities to meet basic food needs. If climate change continues as it has been the past years, the effect will only get worse and it can be assumed that these statistics will only increase.
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