Climate Field School

The Municipality of Dumangas, a coastal town in the Province of Iloilo, Philippines,
experiences two extreme conditions: flooding during the rainy season and drought during the dry
season. Flood is the perennial problem of the town which causes heavy damages to crops, livestock,
properties, infrastructures, fishery products and livelihood. During the dry season, the supply of water
coming from the national irrigation system is not enough to irrigate the extensive farmlands of Dumangas.
Drought then also causes heavy damages on crops and livelihood.
To respond, the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Dumangas has implemented the Climate Field
School (CFS) for Farmers project as an innovative disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation
strategy for agriculture. The climate field school is equipped with an agro-meteorological
station, a facility that forecasts weather conditions. Its seasonal climate forecasting helps farmers in
field preparation, selection of the optimal rice seeds and the kind of cash crops that they can plant for
the particular season. The Dumangas climate field school is the first in the country. It was made possible
through the coordination and collaboration between the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC),
the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), Iloilo Provincial
Agriculture Office, with support from the Office of the Foreign Disaster Assistance of USAID, and the Local
Government Unit (LGU) of Dumangas. The overall goal of the project is to reduce disaster risks and
enhance the capacity of farmers, extension workers, rural women and other stakeholders to understand
the role of climate in plants propagation, growth and development as well as its relationship to
plants pests and diseases; and also to help stakeholders learn how to incorporate weather and climate
information in decision making in agriculture. Since it was implemented in 2007, a total of 181 farmers
have benefitted from the project and graduated from the course. The pioneering Climate Field School
(CFS) for farmers in Dumangas, has helped the town become the top rice producing municipality in
Iloilo province, with farmers now able to use knowledge they have gained to apply better agricultural
practices in the face of continuous threat of climate-related risks and hazards.
The Dumangas experience does not only highlight the importance of building resilient communities to
weather uncertainties brought about by climate change but also the need to empower local institutions
so they can formulate climate responses, to creatively use local resources to be cost effective,
to create and sustain an inclusive participatory institutional system for efficiency, and to find
champions to mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.