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El Nino: A personal Reflection

El Nino or El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) s a term describing a natural event occurs in the

Pacific Ocean. El Niño Southern Oscillation refers to the cycle of warm and cold temperatures, as

measured by sea surface temperature, SST, of the tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean. El Niño is

accompanied by high air pressure in the western Pacific and low air pressure in the eastern Pacific. The

cool phase of ENSO is called "La Niña" with SST in the eastern Pacific below average and air pressures

high in the eastern and low in western Pacific. The ENSO cycle, both El Niño and La Niña, causes global

changes of both temperatures and rainfall.

In the Philippines, every 20 years or so there is an intense El Niño due to major sea temperature

changes in the Pacific Ocean. This results in drought in Southeast Asia down to Australia, but also in

parts of South America and Southeast Africa and increased rain or heat in several other areas. The

droughts of 1982-1983 and 1997-1998 are the most memorable in recent decades with the sister event

of La Niña following.

Ive have been living in Cebu for 5 years already but my hometown is Bukidnon in which is

agricultural capital of Mindanao. In terms of physical distribution of agricultural areas, Sugarcane lands

dominate the landscape of Bukidnon followed by Corn lands, Pineapple and Irrigated Rice. So when La

Nino hit 2 years ago it was a large impact. The farms did not dry up in the place during 2009 to 2010

when the long dry spell last occurred in the country, but about 6,000 farmers were reported to have

reduced harvest.

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I was in College back then but we did feel the food shortage and water shortage distribution

during those days. I can still remember the rice rations and NFA rice line queues just to get the a rice

meal for the day. Even clean water was scarce back then and we had to clean up or dilapidated well to

sustain the household needs for cleaning and washing water.

According to the PAG-ASA or Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services

Administration, El nino is likely to begin in the last quarter of 2014 and last until the first quarter of 2015

when the warmer air passes over land such as the Mindanao land mass, it will affect areas differently. It

will possibly have a lesser impact on the Agusan valley because there is more available ground moisture

and have a stronger impact on Bukidnon where there is more cropland on a plateau with the rivers set

in canyons.

In response to this impending drastic weather change, the Department of Agriculture has

reported to have created a new task force on El Niño to firm up strategies meant to cushion the impact

of the impending extended dry spell on farming and fishery sectors. The task force is expected to come

up with an action plan and its corresponding budgetary requirements.

On July 8, 2014, plans to further reduce rice production risk due to El Nino, especially in upland

and rain fed areas, as part of their strategies with coordination of the National Rice Program and the

department’s climate change resiliency and adaptation measures.  The government has developed a

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number of drought tolerant rice varieties for rain fed lowland farms and also for upland farms. Drought

tolerant rice thrives even with limited water supply.

Farmers are expected to bear the brunt of the impacts of the prolonged drought because many

types of crops- including rice and corn  – depend on consistent water supply and irrigation in order to

thrive. Phil rice said it will help farmers gain access to seeds and provide technical support and

information to support Filipinos in agricultural sector.

Personally, since I’m living here in Cebu, I would not be able to provide physical assistance with

my town people in Bukidnon. Although I do promise to join Seminars and Workshops involving

information dissemination about the effects of El Nino and how we can defray it once I go home this

summer. I have already contacted my friends who are in Bukidnon Regional Department of Agriculture

in regard with this matter and they are able and willing to accept volunteers in their drive to help

Filipino farmers sustain their crops and herbs during this trying times.