The Department of Agriculture (DA) has urged the country’s farmers to prepare to adopt sustainable farming practices soon in light of intensifying challenges posed by climate change, population growth and shrinking farmland.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement on Sunday the move would be crucial as “these challenges are not distant threats” and have been testing the resilience of the country’s food systems.
In an archipelagic nation situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire and directly facing the Pacific Ocean, which are both sources of extreme weather, transforming the country’s agriculture “is no longer optional, but essential,” Tiu Laurel said.
“In the Philippines, climate change is not an abstract concept. Our farmers live with its impact every day… From typhoons that devastate harvests to droughts that parch fields to unpredictable seasons that unsettle even the most experienced growers…, these phenomena are occurring more frequently. That is a clear warning that our agricultural practices must change as well,” Tiu Laurel said.
The DA emphasized that building a resilient agricultural sector would be vital to ensuring long-term food security, economic stability and inclusive job growth that could withstand the effects of erratic weather patterns including typhoons, droughts and shifting seasons that have upended traditional farming routines.
Tiu Laurel said the DA’s response to such challenges would be adaptive and climate-smart innovations aimed at boosting resilience and productivity, such as revised cropping calendars, greenhouse farming with fertigation systems, and alternate wetting and drying technologies for water conservation.
He added that the agency has started rolling out mobile soil laboratories to optimize land use and improve yields. The DA would also promote precision and regenerative agriculture, Tiu Laurel said.
The DA explained such methods would help farmers use fewer resources while increasing output and minimizing losses. In sustainable agriculture, farmers would use more advanced tools like artificial intelligence-powered analytics and digital farm management systems to support smarter, data-driven decisions.
Tiu Laurel added that attracting younger generations to farming would be equally critical, with the average age of Filipino farmers now at over 55.
He said the agency has remained hopeful about encouraging more youths to get into agriculture through startup incubators, digital mentorships and scholarship opportunities.
“Technical solutions alone are not enough… Building resilience also means investing in the people who feed us,” Tiu Laurel said further.
The DA added that crop insurance coverage, improvement of early warning systems, and provisions for localized climate advisories have empowered farmers with timely, informed choices.
Moreover, the agency said that more public-private partnerships would scale up these efforts in order to tap agribusinesses, financial institutions, and global partners to co-develop inclusive value chains, widen access to capital, and bring modern technologies even to smallholder farms.
“Our Agri-Puhunan at Pantawid Program provides affordable, insured loans and a ready market to ensure stable farmer incomes… Currently piloted for rice, it will soon expand to other agricultural sectors,” Tiu Laurel said.
Last month, the government identified 100 priority municipalities that will avail of climate-resilient interventions for agriculture.
The Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA) interventions come from the “Adapting Philippine Agriculture to Climate Change” Project or APA, a joint project of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (DOST-PAGASA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The CRA-APA is supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
The DA, in a statement on April 22, said 100 priority municipalities were identified through vulnerability assessments and their readiness for CRA interventions. These municipalities are in the following nine provinces and two regions: Apayao, Ifugao, Kalinga, Cagayan, Isabela, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Northern Mindanao and the Soccsksargen region.
Proponents of the project said it will directly support 205,000 farmers in adopting CRA practices within these areas.
At least 45,000 farmers are expected to engage in agri-enterprise development, applying various CRA interventions to identified priority crops, the DA said.
