Team members: Adrian Keung, Angela Agullana, Fatima Khan and Justine Lopez
Batac's farmers are suffering from harvest loss and have challenges growing different crops due to severe weather changes. As a result, there is a need for a system to protect these crops.
Floods and drought cause billions in agricultural damage
Due to climate change, the frequency of severe weather events such as floods and droughts in the Philippines has increased drastically. In the past, these events would occur once every few years but now they are occurring annually or biannually (Bachmann, Cruzada, and Wright, 2009).
It is estimated that there will be a 10% decrease in crop yields for every one degree celsius rise in global temperature (Bachmann, Cruzada, and Wright, 2009). This is evident when comparing the 1997-1998 drought, which caused ₱6 billion in damages, to the 2015-16 drought, which caused ₱10 billion in crop damages (National Drought Plan for the Philippines, 2019).
Severe Tropical Storm Ineng caused flooding in Ilocos Norte in 2019, resulting in ₱168 million in agricultural damages (CNN Philippines, 2019). Climate change could increase the intensity and frequency of these floods. This would worsen the the flooding in existing flood prone areas and create new flood prone areas (National Drought Plan for the Philippines, 2019).
Super Typhoon Goni and Super Typhoon Vamco caused ₱12 billion in agricultural damages in November 2020.
In early November, 2020 Super Typhoon Goni hit the Philippines causing approximately ₱5 billion in agricultural damages. That same month Super Typhoon Vamco followed causing the country ₱7 billion in agricultural damages. The government provided a total of ₱370 million to the affected families (NDRRMC, 2020).
The Philippines experiences an average of 20 typhoons and storms each year (Patel, 2020) and global warming is predicted to increase Super Typhoons 8-fold (Masters, 2020).