Agriculture Business Week

Climate change, says the World Health Organization (WHO), is a significant and emerging threat to public health, and changes the way we must look at protecting vulnerable populations.

The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed that there is overwhelming evidence that humans are affecting the global climate, and highlighted a wide range of implications for human health.

Climate variability and change cause death and disease through natural disasters such as heat waves, floods, and droughts. Also, many important diseases are highly sensitive to changing temperatures and precipitation. These include common vectorborne diseases such as malaria and dengue, as well as other major killers such as malnutrition and diarrhea.

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The Philippine fisheries industry consists of the marine fishing, inland fishing and aquaculture sub-sectors. Marine fishing is the catching or harvesting of seawater fishes, invertebrates, and plants of economic importance like the galunggong, halaan, and Sargassum. Inland fishing, on one hand, is the. exploitation of aquatic plants and animals in brackishwater and freshwater areas like rivers, lakes, and Other wetlands. Aquaculture, on the other hand, is the culture or farming of marine brackishwater and freshwater species like the milkfish, tilapia, oysters, and seaweeds.

Our fisheries provide livelihood and income directly to more than a million fisherfolk and fishfarmers, and indirectly to millions of other people. With a contribution of about 5 percent to the country’s gross domestic product, fish and other fishery products supply the bulk of the animal protein in the diet of our more than 90 million population.

The excessive accumulation of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere mainly from industrial and agricultural activities has markedly increased the average temperature of the earth’s surface. Such a phenomenon has resulted in global warming or climate change that has brought about extreme climatic events as prolonged droughts (El Ninos), devastating typhoons, and catastrophic floods in many regions of the world including our country.

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Mitigating the adverse effects of climate on fruit production is the subject of an interesting article of Dr. Pablito P. Pamplona.

Dr. Pamplona, of course, is the fruit expert who retired earlier from the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato, and now managing his own fruit farm and nursery.

He writes that production of pummelo, longkong lanzones, durian, mangosteen and rambutan in Mindanao has been adversely affected by the climate change that started in 2007. Climate change, he said, brought about unpredictable occurrence of long and heavy rains accompanied by strong winds not previously experienced in Mindanao. One time, it’s a prolonged period of light rains followed by a short dry spell, like what happened in 2007. The short dry period was not long enough to trigger profuse flowering of the trees and that was the reason why there was a shortfall in production.

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Topnotch poultry and livestock equipment supplier Belmont is promoting the use of a new climate control technology to optimize the growth of chicken while generating power savings of up to 70 percent.

The technology involves a combi-tunnel ventilation system designed specifically for regions with heavy daily or seasonal temperature variations.

The system works by taking in fresh air through wall inlets, thus entailing minimum ventilation to remove the excess moisture and heat of the animals.

“Though it’s still in the exploratory stage, the combi-tunnel ventilation is perfect for subtropical and tropical countries like the Philippines. The combi-tunnel technology integrates various ventilation principles into a single intelligent system. It ensures optimum conditions for the chickens by letting ventilation depend on the outdoor temperature, humidity and the age of the animals,” said Belmont’s marketing manager Tony Magno.

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The potential impacts of climate change on Philippine agriculture were presented in a seminar by Dr. Ma. Victoria Espaldon of the UP Los Baños School of Environmental Science during the 5th Agriculture and Fisheries Technology Commercialization Forum and Exhibit on 27-30 August 2009. The activity was spearheaded by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).

Dr. Espaldon noted that there has been a steady increase in global surface temperature brought about by the greenhouse effect. The increase in temperature of the planet is causing the polar ice caps to melt causing sea levels to rise and the habitat of arctic animals like walruses to disappear.

In the local context, the Philippines is also experiencing increase in temperature, sea level rise, extreme events like heavy rains during summer and stronger typhoons. Agriculture is the most affected by climate change. Heat stress, excessive rainfall, soil erosion and water shortage have decreased crop harvests as well as livestock production. New patterns of diseases have also emerged.

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Instead of becoming victims of climate change, the country’s fisherfolk can adapt to this unwanted phenomenon even to their own advantage.

This is the objective behind the many technologies that the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) will showcase in the forthcoming Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink, the country’s biggest and most prestigious annual international trade show on agribusiness, food and aquaculture.

BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento said his agency, with the help of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Department of Agriculture, was embarking on a campaign that would educate the public on how to take advantage of climate change.

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Oriental Mindoro had always been blessed with favorable climate for crop production throughout the years. This dry season of 2009, however; rice farmers in Galapan, Oreintal Mindoro had great yield loss due to what they supposed to be a result of climate change.

Despite adopting recommended crop management practices, their harvest was as low as 2 tons per hectare, which was 50 percent lower than their usual yield, brought by unpredictable weather and higher frequency of rainfall.

According to Dr. Rolando T. Cruz, head of the Favorable Rice Environment program at the Philippine Rice Research Institute, the continuous cloudiness and rainfall as well as the low irradiance in Calapan could have reduced crop photosynthesis that could have resulted in lower crop biomass and grain yield.

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When nature shows its wrath, we uncontrollably find ourselves in a quandary.

When Dr. Gary Garriot of Winrock International visited NOGROCOMA recently, we had a farmers’ meeting. Typhoon “Crising” left in its wake rotten onions damaged by the rain. It was at that meeting when a farmer shared his feeling about this debacle. He said the onion farmers are technology-savvy. He knows how to take care of his onions. Given the experience and NOGROCOMA’s never-ending technology seminars, once he plants his onions, giving proper nutrients and care, in 90 or 120 days, he can produce onions ready for the market. It is only when nature shows its wrath through this so called “climate change” do we find ourselves in a quandary. All the four months of hard work gone to waste. Because the months of April and May are traditionally harvest months, a time when the heat of summer is necessary for harvesting. But our climate has changed that and we are unable to adjust. His heartache is evident.

NOGROCOMA has been identified as a food enterprise able to meet the challenges of globalization. It will be featured as one of 24 case studies of food enterprises all over the world. Winrock has been working for the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation for the project.

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So it is no wonder why the Philippines is the first country in Southeast Asia to enact a law on biofuels. The Biofuels Act of 2006 aims to “develop and utilize indigenous renewable and sustainablysourced clean energy sources to reduce dependence on imported oil.”

The Act, which was signed in January 12, 2007, also envisions increasing rural employment and income, mitigating toxic and greenhouses gas emissions, and ensuring the availability of alternative and renewable clean energy “without any detriment to the natural ecosystem, biodiversity and food reserves of the country.”

The Department of Agriculture said the reduction in fuel consumption as a result of the enactment of the Biofuels Act would save the country the P17.3 billion a year spent on imported oil stock.

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Biofuels have been found to significantly reduce global dependence on oil. More than that, pundits believe using biofuels could also save our planet.

Currently, more than 55% of the energy supplies in the Philippines are derived from geothermal power, hydropower, biomass, natural gas, local coal, local oil and coco diesel. Thirty four percent (34%) are imported while the remaining 10% comes from imported coal.

These figures were revealed by Rafael L. Coscolluela, administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration, during a workshop for media practitioners held at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) in Los Banos, Laguna.

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The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has recently revealed steps to mitigate the effects of global warming on agriculture and forestry in support of DOST’s comprehensive National Science Intervention Plan to address the issue on climate change.

The Fourth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) it warned that in Asia alone, unabated global warming and resultant climate change trends would adversely threaten freshwater availability for more than a billion people in the region by 2050.

Coastal areas in South, East, and Southeast Asia will be at greater risk to increased flooding from sea level rise. The climatic change in distribution and amount of rainfall would also severely threaten food security in the region. IPCC likewise points man’s everyday activities as the main cause of global warming.

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Rice breeders throughout the world are wary of the impact of climate change on rice productivity. This now serves as a great challenge and a demand to develop cool rice varieties for a warmer world.

To develop the needed varieties, rice breeders, recently convened an international workshop in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China. They reviewed the current knowledge on rice tolerance or adaptation to high temperature and for mulated research strategies to develop new rice varieties that can cope with the increasing air temperature associated with global warming.

Rice breeders recognized that to secure grain yield and quality in a warming world, they must adopt new tools and identify genetic strategies to overcome the effects of high temperature on sterility and grain-filling. They must also develop selection tools to continue to select for high yield and high grain quality in a warmer world.

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The lack or insufficiency of rainfall for the past months in Luzon brought about by El Nino episodes and climate change can lower the productivity of the country’s fishery sector, particularly the aquaculture industry.

Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, executive director of the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development(PCAMRD) said recently that fish produced from freshwater fishponds, brakishwater fishponds and cage culture in inland water are likely to be stricken by the drought conditions. Marine fisheries, on the other hand, is not generally as affected as inland fisheries but high salinity of coastal waters with low runoff input may reduce productivity.

Prolonged dry spell, says Dr. Guerrero, results in low productivity in freshwater fishponds. Low water supply from irrigation lowers the water level in the pond and increases the temperature of the water. This condition, he said, slows down the growth of the fish because their feeding rate is reduced. High mortality is also possible.

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We are now in the midst of global warming. The signs are already ominous. We can now feel the immediate effects of global warming through the climatic changes around its. Our summers are getting hotter, while the typhoons during the rainy season are increasingly getting to be fewer, but more feracious.

Green activists have been successful in their media campaigns on the reduction of greenhouse gases – mainly carbon dioxide and methane gases – by cutting down on the emission of gases and related activities. The reuse and recycling of industrial raw materials such as plastic, metal, paper, and glass also have the combined effect of reducing the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Even our government has accepted this reality and is compensating by undertaking cloud seeding to create artificial rain. But we all know that these are just temporary, stop gap measures.

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