Weather and climate variability are the primary determinants of year-to-year variation in Philippine rice production. It is not surprising to define that rice farming today is a “risky business”. Subtle effects of more frequent weather extremes and aberrations as well as threatening adverse climatic conditions causes a lot of inconveniences to the farmers, like physical damages to crops, instability in rice yield, soil and water resources degradation. Even the current advances in rice research and development efforts as well as application of modern technologies in hastening rice self-sufficiency still depend on the intervention of favourable climate and weather conditions.
Sound strategies to help rice farming sector to effectively cope with a wide range of climate-induced risks requires timely and reliable agro-meteorological data and information. To address these needs, PhilRice established agromet stations in strategic rice-producing areas in the Philippines to monitor the near real-time weather conditions, to provide agricultural advisories to the farmers, and to supplement the agro-climatic data requirements of rice-based technology researches of PhilRice and partners. The PhilRice Agromet Network (PhilAgromet) was developed to take lead in the delivery of relevant weather and climate information. To facilitate continuous updates of weather data, PhilAgromet maintains agromet stations equipped with manual and automatic weather facilities in Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Batac, Ilocos Norte, San Mateo, Isabela, Midsayap, North Cotabato, RT Romualdez, Agusan del Norte, and Murcia, Negros Occidental.