PAGASA reports that El Niño will peak October 2014 and will probably continue until late next year. Experts have predicted this will be worse than the El Niño felt in the Philippines in the year 1998 which affected almost 74,000 hectares of agricultural lands in 18 provinces in the country. As a response, SEA in partnership with Department of Agriculture and civil society group POPA (Panay Organic Producers Association) organized a Lecture/Forum For Western Visayas in Iloilo City.
The objectives are to impart timely and relevant information that will help the participants cope up with the challenges of climate change and El Niño and to emerge issues and experiences that will help deepen the topics at hand. Expected from this event is the networking opportunities for the various stakeholders.
Among the speakers will be the prominent Dr. Steve Godilano, an international expert on climate change and trained by NASA, DA REG VI Director Larry Nacionales on the topic of Organic Agriculture and the challenge of El Niño.
Summary of the Presentations
Rep. Jerry Trenas: Funding for Iloilo City water system
Hon. Jerry Trenas, congressman of the Lone District of Iloilo acknowledged that climate change has worsened due to man’s excessive use of fossil fuels and that the agriculture sector has been affected by new weather patterns.
“In Iloilo, we have seen how water levels increased through the years, such as the recent flooding in Iloilo City,” he said.
“I am trying to source out funds to help. It’s no longer about drainage anymore. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is already talking about water systems, which can slowly pump out the water. I requested P520 million for Iloilo City’s drainage. I hope we can get it. We need to properly acquaint ourselves with climate chance and re-align our priorities. This is an opportunity for us to talk about how we can mitigate climate change effects,” he said.
Dr. Esteban “Steeve” Godilano: Unified Map
Ilonggo scientist and geospatial expert Dr. Esteban Godilano said we need a unified map in order to help us mitigate the effects of climate change.
“Climate change has caused extreme weather events, decline in crop yields, loss of rich forests, and damage to coastal resources, which also threaten national security,” said Dr. Godilano, technical adviser of the Department of Agriculture on Climate Change, geospatial expert of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Climate Change Commission (CCC) Ecotown Project, and resident scientist of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR).
“A unified map will benefit agriculture. For example, crop suitability mapping will show that only Calinog and Bingawan are most suitable for agriculture. There are 15 crops and 20 crops that you can plant in Calinog and Bingawan, respectively. Through mapping, you’ll see the need for Climate Change Resistant Agriculture wherein you identify flood-resistant crops,” Dr. Godilano.
“Our goal of achieving agricultural productivity, sustainability, and food security in the future will in part depend on our ability to predict and manage changes in our agricultural landscape and the effects of a changing climate on Department of Agriculture policies and governance,” he added.
Dr. Godilano stressed that use of a unified map can also avert casualties during calamities. He narrated that in 2009, he presented is flooding map in Cagayan de Oro. Since the province is located near a watershed, he warned stakeholders that CDO will become another Marikina, a flood-prone city in Metro Manila. “After my presentation, they said it was scary. Then, Sendong happened in 2011 to prove it,” Dr. Godilano said. About 1,200 died when Sendong caused flooding in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.
“With mapping you will see a land’s risk. If it is very high and extremely high, there should be no more settlement in those areas. It will be allotted for a different land use,” he said.
He also cited the storm surge that happened in Leyte. “All flood-prone areas are prone to storm surges. Before typhoon Yolanda has entered the Philippine area of responsibility last November 2013, if they used a map, they could have predicted the storm surge and ordered a forced evacuation. The Philippines already has a storm surge map as early as 1998 in Cornell University, USA.”
“Releasing press releases and advisories is not enough. They should rely on maps and even satellite images prior to making a tactical action,” he said.
“The Department of Natural Resources has geohazard maps. The Department of Science and Technology has a READY project. The local government units have many thematic maps but these do not include climate change as part of the mapping variables. These maps are based on historical records, experiential and deterministic assumptions,” he stressed.
“So, let us make an integrated map. Let us unify all maps,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Godilano also stressed the need to revolutionize the education system on agriculture.
Director Larry Nacionales, Department of Agriculture-6: Mitigation and Adaptation Plan
Director Nacionales said that Region 6 and all other regions in the country, have experienced delay in the start of the planting season because of El Nino.
“We experienced lack in rainfall, thus plantings have been delayed for one month. We are now in an abnormal season for cropping. The recent typhoon helped provide rainfall, though,” he said.
“The chance for having El Nino is 60 percent during June, July and August and is expected to be about 80 percent during October, November and December. So, if we plant on July, we can harvest October. But there will be no time for a second cropping. Thus, a mapping model is important,” he added.
Nacionales presented the DA-6 Mitigation and Adaptation Plan which includes: (1) buffering, production and distribution of inputs (2) extension support services (3) water resource management and conservation interventions (4) other mitigation measures.
The DA supplies farmers with seeds like Green Super Rice seeds, which are intended for adverse conditions; and RC 272-288 varieties that are suited for rainfed and are early maturing. The department also maintains a buffer of rice, corn and vegetables. It also engages in livestock and poultry re-stocking.
The DA also provides training to farmers, establish techno demo on silage making and adopt technology that can adapt to El Nino. They also engage in cloud seeding, provision of small scale irrigation, facilities and repair and rehabilitation of irrigation projects. Other mitigation measures include provision of machineries, crop insurance, pest and disease surveillance and mapping, monitoring and management.
“We are also implementing the Expanded Vulnerability and Sustainability Assessment Tool (EVSA). It provides a ranking of municipalities, identify the commodities in the province and subject them to suitability assessment. This is a World Bank-funded tool. The outcome of EVSA will be translated into an online map showing the next sets of prioritized municipalities. We rank towns based on least and most vulnerable,” he said.
“We are training the municipal agriculture officers (MAOs). EVSA can be accessed in the web also. This tool is for decision makers,” he said.
Nacionales said they have created local farmers who are key leaders in the community. They will be the ones who will pass on the technology to other farmers in a way that they can understand. “Apart from the help of the MAOs, we will also hold information dissemination and will involve farmers in decision making,” he said.
William Martirez, country manager of Microensure: Insurance for the Marginalized
“Surveys conducted by the Insurance Commission on Microinsurance show that about 26.5% of the country’s population of 94 million (25 million) are below the poverty line, and only 2.9 million of them have some kind of risk protection,” says William Martirez, Microensure’s Country Manager for the Philippines. As they are the most vulnerable to illness, physical injury, accident or death and natural calamities, Martirez said that micro insurance is the action to be taken by the low income people before a crisis occurs, in order to protect them against possible loss.
“Micro insurance provides the poor access to a basket of risk protection, support and services in exchange of affordable premium payments in pursuit of poverty reduction. Its maximum guaranteed benefits are 1,000 times daily minimum wage rate for non-agricultural workers in Metro Manila (P466) or should not exceed P466,000, and claims are paid within ten days or even less. It is made affordable as the premium product is as low as P35 per month and daily premium should not exceed 7.5% of current daily minimum wage for non-agricultural workers in Metro Manila,” says Martirez.
Microensure helps the poor weather life’s storms as they provide micro insurance to the low and middle-income market. “We provide a range of life, health, property and weather-index products via a range of distribution partners that include microfinance companies, banks, cooperatives and mobile network operators,” adds Martirez.
The company issues an average of thirty thousand new policies every month, and to date, has paid about P600 Million in claims since it started operations in 2007.
Innovative Products
Micro Housing Insurance. This type of insurance is for families whose homes are destroyed by fire, lightning and natural calamities. In these cases, the company also provide evacuation assistance and personal accident insurance to the affected family.
Triple 10. The Triple 10 provides comprehensive covers for basic risks such as Death, Fire & Calamity (loss or damage of property) and Hospitalization (reimbursement of medical expenses due to accident or illness). It is affordable as it can be bought by units and can cover just an individual or can add cover to include family members or increase units of cover.
Triple Care. For loan payment protection, there is Triple Care. Through this insurance, the company pays the loan of the borrower in the event of death, hospitalization, and loss or damage to residence due to fire or calamity.
HospiCash. In the event of hospitalization, HospiCash provides daily hospital income benefit, transportation allowance, “bantay” allowance and supplementary cash assistance to the insured. It complements PhilHealth and supplements other health insurances.
Weather Index Based Crop Insurance
This is a good insurance for farmers as payments are based on weather parameter (rainfall, windspeed, etc.) and are not on actual loss. Farmers are compensated based on weather events as measured using a specified method and up to specific limits.
According to Martirez, there are plenty of opportunities for micro insurance. Among them are insurance as a climate change adaptation and risk reduction instrument; the 2011-2028 National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NCCAP) which identifies the design and implementation of social protection and risk transfer mechanisms such as Weather Index Insurance, and the development of innovative risk financing mechanisms such as agricultural insurance, as among the current priorities that must be carried out during the current administration; and Republic Act 10121 or the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 201 that identifies calamity insurance as a disaster risk management strategy.
Norbert Capileno – P3-RLAS Loan
To help the Filipino farmers in ensuring a good harvest, Lifebank – Rural bank of Maasin (Iloilo) Inc. has formulated a new loan specifically for farmers who are engaged in rice, corn, sugarcane and other forms of agricultural production. Named the P3-RLAS Loan or Patubig, Patubo, Patubas – Rural Livelihood Assistance Scheme, its purpose is the installation of water system (“tasok”) for agricultural production. This good news was revealed by Norbert Capileno, an executive of the bank.
“A farmer can avail the loan amount of P40,000.00-P60,000.00 approximately and pay only an interest rate of 12% p.a. and no other finance charges. The term of the loan will be based on the crop cycle. High value crops will be for 2 years while 3 years for other crops. Payment is to be patterned after harvest cycle of the crop and the borrower’s cash flow. Loan is released in tranches: 1st tranche is for payment of materials and labor for the well drilling or “tasok”; 2nd tranche for the purchase of motor engine, water pump and initial fuel use after a successful “tasok”; and 3rd tranche for ongoing fuel, oil and maintenance needs,” says Capileno.
Interested farmers are encouraged to visit any of Lifebank’s branches in order to avail of the loan.
Download the presentations:
The Storm Ahead – Tactical and Strategic Planning in CCA and DRR, Steve Godilano
Mitigation and Adaptation Plan, El Niño 2014, Department of Agriculture
Microensure, Martirez
Perlas Loan, Capileno, Lifebank