El Niño Drought in the Philippines

With no rain since February 2015, the dry spell in M’lang, North Cotabato has already caused the drying of irrigation systems and created big cracks in the rice fields of New Antique. The dry spell is already causing extreme hardship for the farmers. Greenpeace calls on the national and local governments to adopt and support policies and programs to help transition the country’s farming system towards a more climate-resilient ecological agriculture. Government should equip farmers with timely and localized weather information and an early warning system to enable farmers to plan well. This early information system should be coupled with programs on how farmers could plant diverse crops, raise farm animals, and develop livelihood strategies.