Agriculture

Impacts to Agriculture Sector

PAGASA disclosed that for the past 65 years, the annual mean temperature in the Philippines has risen by 0.68 degree Celsius, which translates to an average increase by about 0.1 degree Celsius per decade. 

Frequency of hotter days has been more prominent than colder days. Long dry periods during El Nino events triggered wild fires in Central Luzon and drastically changed the forest and agroecosystems and reduced soil moisture to initiate growth of trees on this region. The Department of Agriculture reports in 2016 that farmers have already incurred losses amounting to P9.9 billion due to the damage caused by El Niño to their crops. This prompted the North Cotabato local government to declare a state of calamity at the early month of the same year. The International Rice Research Institute analysis of impact by temperature trends and irrigated field experiments showed that an increase of 10C in temperature can bring a decrease in crop yield of about 10%.