Hardly predictable and extreme weather changes can often spell disaster for the uninformed and unprepared. This holds particularly true for Filipino farmers and agriculture-based enterprises where losses due to long periods of drought, violent typhoons, or major shifts in weather condition can be devastating to an entity’s supply chain, livelihoods, and the country’s food security.   Molding climate change-conscious agriculture entrepreneurs Taking notice of the impact of climate change (CC) […]

Deaths, vanishing islands, floods, droughts, and all the horrors that could possibly happen in our world have already been reported or at least been associated to climate change (CC). In agriculture, its impacts can be massive from heating among animals to remarkable yield loss in highly significant crops like rice. All these maladies are happening at a time when the world population, according to the UN, approaches 9.6B in 2050—more […]

In a world of doubts and uncertainties, anticipating risks can lead to readiness – a ticket to survival. The current situation of the agriculture sector on climate change mitigation and adaptation necessitates preparedness. Knowing what is to come in the production-and-consumption equation helps ensure enough food for the people despite resurgent challenges in the given growing environment. Efforts are in place to capacitate institutions to aptly inform policymakers on climate […]

After working in Taiwan for 9 years, Noel E. Cabrera decided to come back in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya in 2005, and start a new life as a farmer. “I think it is still better to work in your own country, and till the soil of where you come from,” Cabrera said. But the former factory worker knew he had to start from scratch. “I noticed that I was lagging behind […]

There’s a bothering statistics that can hardly be ignored: 355,000 are annually killed, with about half occurring in agriculture; 41 million suffer including children and infants; and 25 million workers are annually poisoned. The numbers, according to the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific, an organization that advances environmental sustainability, are due to the use of chemical pesticides that can cause chronic diseases including cancer and diseases of the […]

Food security has always been high in the agenda of our country. Now that we are 100 million and counting, can we secure enough food for all of us? Is there enough agricultural labor force to suffice the need? It is clear with the Commission on Higher Education that enrolment in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and veterinary medicine had declined from 85,266 in 1999 to only 49,823 in 2010. “Most students […]

Ana Sibayan uses a pen and some sheets of paper to prepare for her presentation. She is about to face more than 300 scientists, extension workers, policy makers, academicians, among other participants in a prestigious international conference on agriculture and rural development. Her topic – attracting the youth to engage in agriculture. At 25, Ana is one of the youngest farmer-leaders in the country. In her hometown Victoria in Mindoro […]

Written by Dr Emil Q Javier Why not? There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why . . . I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? . . . Robert Kennedy. More liberal trading among nations across all products and services will bring more economic benefits in the aggregate. But as always more benefits will accrue to some; others will […]

Written by Dr Emil Q Javier   “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why…I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?…Robert Kennedy (A reader, Ms. Lilybeth Eleccion called attention to the attribution of the “Why Not!” quote to Robert Kennedy. The original quote was really made by the Irish playwright, essayist and 1925 Nobel Prize winner for literature, George Bernard […]

Written by Eufemio T Rasco Jr   In the few instances that the Philippines has achieved rice sufficiency in recent years, sufficiency was achieved for only one or two years, after which a long period of deficit follows. The issue, therefore, is not whether sufficiency can be achieved but if it can be sustained. To address the issue of sustainability, one needs to look at the pattern of supply and […]