Rice, the food that feeds the Philippines, is in climate change’s crosshairs. Sea-level rise, hotter temperatures and extreme weather are putting one of the country’s top crops at risk, as drought, floods and encroaching saltwater threaten rice paddies and the livelihoods of those who tend them.

This article recalls how a farmer-led network in collaboration with scientists and others called MASIPAG (Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura) bred dozens of native rice plants, over several decades,  to be more resistant to drought, saltwater, pests and diseases. MASIPAG then trained many of the 30,000 farmers in its network on how to grow these more resilient varieties using organic cultivation methods. 

The idea was to help them “relearn the Indigenous and local production processes which were almost erased by the Green Revolution,” says Kathryn Manga, international solidarity officer and project coordinator at the Asian People’s Exchange for Food Sovereignty and Agroecology, an umbrella organization for groups including MASIPAG. The Green Revolution, which spread across the developing world in the 20th century, replaced ancient farming techniques with modern ones like genetic engineering and pesticides — practices that in some cases reduced hunger, but also disrupted ecosystems and left many poor farmers behind. MASIPAG’s effort to return to the old ways — this time with more resilient plants — worked. “It was the local [rice] varieties which were left standing after the strong winds and rains of the typhoons in 2022,” Manga says. 

Research, along with real-world examples like MASIPAG’s, shows that agroecology holds promise for strengthening farming communities and conserving nature. 

Photo Courtesy: MASIPAG