The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics has released
data that as of April this year that there was a marked decline in the number
of agricultural workers by 400,000 from 11.8 million last year 2014. This was
caused by the intense heat generated by the El Niño phenomenon that greatly
affected the crops and fisheries subsector.
There is a clamor from the Trade Union Congress of
the Philippines (TUCP) that the government include the agricultural workers
sector it in its El Niño rescue plan. This is also to arrest the pattern of
decline in the number of agricultural workers that started in 2011. Records
from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) indicated that there were 12.2
million agricultural workers in 2011 then a continued decrease to 12 million in
2012, 11.83 million in 2013, and 11.8 million by 2014.
In July this year, unemployment in the sector rose
to 755,000 workers. The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) also
cited the El Niño phenomenon with the contraction of the Philippine
agricultural industry. According to PAGASA, 58% of the country is currently
affected by El Niño and that it is projected that by February 2016, 85% of the
country will be affect.
The El Niño phenomenon is caused by the warming of
the waters off the coast of Peru because of the eruptions of an undersea
volcano. This causes changes in sea water temperature that results in changes
in the currents of the oceans and the jetstream in the atmosphere. Severe
weather is one of the causes and that reversal of climate behaviour are felt
all around the world that affects agriculture.
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