‘Floodflation’ and perennial crops

The Philippines is at a crossroads of  food  fragility and food security. It can continue down a path of reactive crisis management responding to each typhoon, each price spike, each crop failure with short-term fixes.

Or, it can embrace a proactive, systems-based approach that centers on soil health, perennial crops, and consumer education as pillars of resilience.

Floodflation is not inevitable. It is a symptom of a food system out of sync with its ecological realities. By rooting strategies in local knowledge, climate adaptation, and food sovereignty, we can transform vulnerability into strength and ensure that every Filipino has access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally meaningful food come rain or shine.

In recent months, Filipino consumers have voiced out their growing frustration over the rising prices of everyday vegetables such as eggplant, sitao (string beans), ampalaya (bitter gourd), and squash.

These crops, while staples in many households, are highly sensitive to excessive rainfall and waterlogged soils.

Typhoons and prolonged wet seasons disrupt planting schedules, reduce yields, and increase post-harvest losses due to rot and fungal diseases.

The result is a volatile supply chain where scarcity drives up prices, disproportionately affecting low-income households that already spend a significant portion of their income on food.

In our country ,  an average of 20 typhoons enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility each year, and with intensifying rainfall patterns due to climate change, the country faces a unique form of climate-induced food inflation called “floodflation.”

This phenomenon—floodflation—is not merely a temporary inconvenience. It is a structural challenge that exposes the fragility of a food system overly reliant on climate-sensitive crops and centralized supply chains.

When typhoons strike, roads become impassable, markets are cut off, and farmers are left with unsellable produce.

The economic losses ripple outward, affecting not just producers but also vendors, transporters, and consumers.

The climate crisis is reshaping the way we grow, distribute, and consume food. In Europe, the term they use is “droughtflation” to describe the inflationary pressures caused by prolonged droughts and degraded soils, leading to reduced harvests and soaring food prices.

The Philippines’ geographic location in the Pacific typhoon belt makes it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Typhoons are not new, but their frequency, intensity, and unpredictability have increased in recent decades.

Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013 was a grim reminder of the devastation such storms can unleash—not only in terms of lives lost and infrastructure destroyed, but also in the long-term disruption of food systems.

In recent months August to September, four consecutive typhoons  passed over a large swath of land in Luzon. These typhoons flooded many areas including fields  and destroyed crops .

As climate change accelerates, these impacts are becoming more severe and more frequent, threatening the country’s food security and economic stability. 

At the heart of this crisis lies a less visible but equally critical issue: soil health.

Decades of chemical-intensive agriculture have left many Philippine soils compacted, nutrient-depleted, and poorly structured.

Healthy soils rich in organic matter can absorb and retain water during heavy rains, reducing runoff and erosion.

They act as natural sponges, buffering against both drought and flood. But degraded soils lose this capacity, turning fields into flood-prone zones that cannot support resilient crop growth.

Investing in soil regeneration—through composting, agroforestry, and organic amendments—is not just an environmental imperative but a food security strategy.

It enhances the land’s ability to withstand climate shocks, supports biodiversity, and reduces dependency on costly chemical inputs. Yet soil health remains a blind spot in national agricultural policy, often overshadowed by short-term yield targets and input subsidies.

This food landscape vulnerability revealed an underutilized solution rooted in the country’s own agricultural heritage: perennial and climate-resilient crops.

Unlike annuals that require replanting each season and are highly sensitive to weather fluctuations, perennials have deep root systems that anchor soil, access groundwater, and withstand both drought and flood conditions.

Crops such as lubi-lubi (Pereskia bleo), moringa (malunggay), bamboo / banana shoots , gabi (taro) leaves, kangkong (water spinach), young cassava leaves, and edible ferns like pako are not only resilient but also nutrient-dense and culturally embedded in Filipino diets.

These plants thrive in diverse microclimates, from upland rainforests to flood-prone lowlands, and can be harvested continuously with minimal inputs. They represent a form of “climate-smart nutrition” that aligns with both ecological and dietary resilience.

While temperate vegetables like lettuce, pechay, and mustasa require greenhouse care and are vulnerable to extreme weather, many native crops are naturally adapted to the Philippines’ climatic volatility.

Even crops like eggplant, okra, and tomatoes—though sensitive—can be cultivated strategically during the drier and cooler “ber” months through March, when typhoon activity subsides and fungal pressures are lower.

Rethinking Consumer Behavior and Food Culture

One of the most overlooked aspects of climate adaptation is consumer behavior. In a globalized food culture shaped by supermarket aesthetics and culinary homogenization, many Filipinos have come to favor imported or temperate vegetables over local, seasonal, and resilient varieties.

This preference not only increases the carbon footprint of food but also reinforces dependence on fragile supply chains.

To build a truly resilient food system, consumers must be re-educated about crop seasonality, local biodiversity, and the nutritional value of indigenous vegetables.

Public education campaigns, school feeding programs, and culinary initiatives can play a vital role in restoring pride in Filipino food heritage.

Farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA), and urban gardens can reconnect consumers with the rhythms of local production and reduce the distance between farm and fork.

Addressing floodflation requires more than individual adaptation. It demands systemic change.

National and local governments must integrate climate resilience into agricultural planning, infrastructure development, and disaster preparedness.

This includes: Investing in soil regeneration through composting , farmer training, and agroecology  based organic agriculture programs.

Supporting perennial crop systems with research, seed banks, and extension services tailored to local agroecological conditions .

Reforming subsidies and procurement policies to favor climate-resilient crops and smallholder producers.

Developing climate-resilient infrastructure, such as elevated storage facilities, flood-tolerant roads, and decentralized food hubs.

Embedding food education in school curricula and public media to shift consumer preferences toward seasonal and resilient crops. 

International agencies and civil society coalitions also have a role to play in financing and scaling these efforts. As the World Food Programme’s analysis notes, climate change is not just an environmental issue—it is a food security crisis that demands cross-sectoral collaboration (UN World Food Programme).

(Teodoro C. Mendoza is a Retired Professor, and UP Scientist of the Institute of  Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, U P Los Banos, Laguna))