REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA/MANILA - Asia's governments are scrambling to head off the potential impact of a weather phenomenon that in the past has driven food prices to levels that sparked social unrest.
With lessons learned, Indonesia's government is handing out calendars to farmers setting out early planting dates. Malaysia and the Philippines are working to manage water supplies and India has bolstered its food stockpiles. They are aiming to reduce the impact of the so-called El Nino, a weather pattern that can bring drought to Australia, Southeast Asia and India.
A majority of weather forecasting models indicate an El Nino is likely to develop around the middle of the year, according to the UN weather agency.
"Traditionally, the countries that are affected most are Indonesia and the Philippines," said David Dawes, a senior economist at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization in Bangkok.
"Certainly for rice because of a combination of two things: it's their production most likely to be affected, and they’re importers so would have to go onto a world market with potentially rising prices."
Indonesia and the Philippines
In Indonesia the agriculture ministry has instructed farming advisors, paid by the government to assist farmers with modern techniques, to bring forward planting of certain crops.
"Hopefully with this action, we can still grow crops and minimize the risk of drought," said Tunggul Iman Panudju, director of land development and management at the agriculture ministry. He added that El Nino may provide opportunities to plant rice on land previously designated as swamp.
Calendars detailing specific crop planting dates will be issued to help farmers, Deputy Agriculture Minister Rusman Heriawan told the Jakarta Post, adding that the Public Works Ministry was readying supporting equipment such as water pumps.
Indonesian farmers are being trained in ways to adapt to changing weather patterns, and depending on the province, urged to plant alternative crops to rice that can cope better with dry conditions, the head of Indonesia's weather agency told Reuters.
Malaysia's government has formed a water crisis committee, headed by the deputy prime minister, that will work with various ministries to monitor any El Nino impact. The government is also encouraging industry to use underground or recycled water and increase the capacity of water storage tanks.
Drought linked to a 2007 El Nino sparked a surge in food prices, including a trebling in the cost of rice to a record over 1,000 USD a metric ton in 2008 that sparked riots in countries as far afield as Egypt, Cameroon and Haiti. The last El Nino in 2009 brought the worst drought in nearly four decades to India, cutting rice output in the world's number two producer by 10 million tonnes and boosting global sugar prices to the highest in nearly 30 years.
A dry spell has already hit the Cagayan Valley in the northern Philippines, the agriculture ministry said, with major dams at critical levels in what is one of the biggest rice-producing regions. The government said it had begun cloud seeding and the release of drought tolerant varieties of rice.
"We are putting in place policy initiatives, water management and conservation measures, as well as modern and innovative farming and fishery technologies to somehow soften the effects of this dry weather," Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said.
Strong typhoons often follow an El Nino weather event in the Philippines, which could mean further crop losses, said Mary Ann Lucille Sering, Secretary of the Philippine Climate Change Commission.
"Rice imports will be an option for us," Sering said. The country is already the region's number two rice importer after China.
Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika