* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
As drought threatens worse hunger, families look for help
On June 30, the new president of the Republic of the Philippines is set to take office after four months of campaigning in the middle of one of the strongest El Niño ever recorded. Despite the ‘decaying’ of the current El Niño, the new government must act to respond to drought-affected communities that are still feeling the impacts and will need more support as they recover their livelihoods and prepare for the predicted La Niña.
In some of the poorest areas in Mindanao, southern Philippines, the recent El Niño has caused desperate droughts and sparked food protests.
The situation was aggravated by the election spending ban, which prohibits local officials from distributing relief. According to local government officials, the ban has frustrated their efforts to stave off a humanitarian crisis.
Back in February 2016, as the campaign period was about to begin, I visited towns of North Cotabato province, one of the first local government units to declare a State of Calamity due to El Niño-caused droughts (described as three consecutive months of way below normal rainfall) in Mindanao.
There, I saw how some farmers, lacking government support, were preparing themselves for the ‘worst case scenario.’ At the same time, many of them expressed their hopes for the next set of elected officials.
“We need rice, but they’ve been offering seeds,” said Oscar Bestes, 56, from Alamada municipality.
“We have yet to receive any notice of rice distribution. Maybe with the elections coming soon, we will receive more grasya [blessings]," Oscar added. "But I am not taking any chances.”
Remembering his horrible experience during previous droughts, and thanks to lessons he had learnt from an Oxfam-supported farmers’ field school, Oscar made sure to set aside enough food to last him and his family at least six months.
“I was 10 years old during one of the worst droughts in history. Our family had nothing. We survived by learning how to cook and eat buli (a wild indigenous specie of fan palm). It took at least three days to cook and dry it until it could be eaten. I don’t ever want to experience that again. I don’t want my children to ever experience that either,” said Oscar.
Not all farmers, however, had enough food stock to adequately prepare. And despite the government advisory about El Niño, some farmers who still decided to plant eventually suffered failed harvests.
“The reality is most farmers here cannot afford to skip one planting season,” explained Teodora Quemado, 58, head of the Bao village Farmers Association in Alamada municipality. “Otherwise, they would have nothing to eat or buy food with. As long as there is some rain, they will plant.”
Teodora added: “Farmers here are in dire need of immediate government assistance – rice, especially. I am lucky because my children are employed and helping me with my needs. But in the long term, the next set of officials should support our long-term needs like better irrigation infrastructure and alternative climate-resilient livelihoods.”
Sofia Samillano, 52, from Pigcawayan municipality, also shared her hopes that the next government would seriously commit to support women farmers like her.
“With this El Niño, I’ve seen how women are suffering more: they have to go farther to fetch water, they have to stretch the household budget to feed their children, and some have even had to take their children out of school because they can no longer afford the costs. This has also caused conflicts among married couples,” Sofia said.
“I’m fortunate that my husband and I own a water pump so we could still grow some vegetables, which I could share with some women in the village. But I really hope the next government invests in making sure all communities can adapt to climate change because it’s getting more and more difficult to farm,” said Sofia.
The voices of farmers like Oscar, Teodora and Sofia must be heard by the next set officials as they line up their advisors and prepare for their first 100 days in office. These, coupled with the key lessons learnt from this recent disaster, are crucial for the country to protect the most vulnerable people from a future of hunger fueled by extreme weather events.
Airah T. Cadiogan is climate change policy and campaigns officer for Oxfam in the Philippines. An earlier version of this article was first published on Rappler.
