The Climate Change Network for Community-based Initiatives (CCNCI) condemned the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the Department of Agriculture for blaming the increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the country on Filipino farmers. According to CCNCI, this is a clear attempt to shift the blame away from corporations and industrial agriculture, which are the real culprits.

In August, PhilRice released a study that accounts 52% of agricultural GHG emissions in the Philippines from rice production. This extremely high figure counters a study conducted by the International Rice Research Institute in January, which found that only 10% of agricultural GHG emissions in the country come from rice production. GHG emissions are gases that accumulate in the ozone layer and prevent heat from escaping into space, causing global warming and climate change.

“Our farmers, already burdened by inequitable systems and insufficient government support, should not be made a scapegoat of a crisis they did not cause,” CCNCI said.

The group also criticized the government’s proposed solutions for farmers, such as alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and carbon trading schemes, as superficial solutions and actually impractical for farmers. “AWD is not practical in many areas due to the lack of drainage and unreliable water sources,” the group said.

The group also pointed out that carbon trading would only allow industrial polluters producing high carbon emissions to continue their destructive practices. Carbon trading involves the sale of an entity’s saved carbon emissions to another that will consume it. This is supposedly a measure to control the rapid growth of carbon emissions worldwide.

CCNCI emphasized that large-scale industrial agriculture, particularly the users of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, are the main contributor to increasing GHG emissions. “These fertilizers produce nitrous oxide (N2O), a GHG that is 300 times more potent than CO2, and accelerate the depletion of soil carbon,” the group explained.

Instead of PhilRice’s bogus environmental programs, CCNCI is pushing for organic and agro-ecological farming systems that can help preserve the soil and environment. They condemned the Department of Agriculture for its meager budget for such systems and projects.

“True climate justice means holding historical polluters accountable,” CCNCI said. Industrialized nations and corporations must bear the primary responsibility for emission mitigation. They should also be held liable for the damage they have caused to the environment and humanity.

“It is unjust to burden farmers, who contribute the least to emissions, with solving the climate crisis,” they added.