Intercropping to Deal with Unpredictable Climate
Macaraig, Tique and Catubuan—farmers all their lives—saw and felt how extreme and unpredictable weather conditions were affecting their means of livelihood.
Tique said their cropping schedule used to be so routine. Every year, planting and harvesting were done in the same months.
But now, they had to monitor the weather carefully before planting. “Last year, we had the drought. This year, we’re getting a lot of rain,” he said.
“We should have been able to plant in October,” Macaraig said. “But the weather is so unpredictable. There’s so much rain and the water stays for a while. We had to plant between November and December.”
Catubuan noted that Capiz and other parts of western Visayas were traditionally not on the path of typhoons. But in recent years, several strong tropical storms had devastated the region.
