The strongest El Niño in five years has wreaked havoc on crops and depleted the water levels of major dams in the Philippines. More than half of the provinces are already suffering from drought since February, where three out of ten workers depend on farming for their livelihood.
The government has come out with a unique program offering a kilo of rice for every 10 rat tails. Farmers have taken up the offer in record numbers and have bartered about 37,000 tails so far.
Justina Navarrette, an agriculturist in South Cotabato province told Bloomberg:
It’s very ingenious: they have some meat, they also get rice , reduces crop losses from rats and give direct support to families.
El Niño, a phenomenon which warms sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific has caused droughts in Australia and Southeast Asia and is likely to have a significant effect on summer monsoon in Asia this year.
David Dawe, a Bangkok-based senior economist at the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization said:
There is still uncertainty over how strong El Nino will become. If El Nino aggravates drought conditions, rice crops are most likely to be affected in Indonesia, the Philippines and India, with Bangladesh possibly being affected as well.
The last strong El Niño in 2009-2010 resulted in significant spikes in sugar, cocoa and wheat prices. The biggest El Niño event in the modern era – in 1997–98, killed an estimated 24,000 people in droughts, floods and storms and caused $34 billion in economic losses around the World.
