Officials are warning of possible food shortages in South Africa, Asia and Latin America next year if countries affected by the El Niño weather phenomenon do not take steps to curb its consequences.

They told a Manila conference on El Niño's global effects that countries should strive to be "disaster-proof" by preparing for droughts and floods that could ravage agricultural lands.

Virandar Sibal, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's representative in the Philippines, said El Niño could adversely affect next year's crop season in about 25 countries on the three continents.

Mr Sibal said the FAO was concerned about "a possible rerun" of agricultural losses caused by El Niño in 1982-83, which amounted to about $8bn worldwide.

Sarah Timpson, UN Development Program representative in the Philippines, said the presence of El Niño in the early 1980s took many governments and climatologists by surprise because of a lack of information.

As a result, about 2,000 people were killed worldwide due to abnormal weather changes, she said.

"We cannot be complacent," said Ms Timpson. "This event is still often given little attention until the disaster actually strikes."

In drought-prone countries, Mr Sibal urged governments to encourage farmers to diversify crops, plant drought-resistant varieties and start water conservation schemes. He also urged countries to start campaigns against forest fires.

Mr Sibal said countries prone to flooding should strengthen drainage systems, dams, canals and seawalls to cushion the effects of destructive floods.

He called for early warning systems to be set up to detect damage to agricultural land and its impact on food supplies.

Asian countries already experiencing droughts include Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Thailand, he said.

In Africa, less rainfall is expected in Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, most of South Africa, Zimbabwe and southern Zambia, he added.

And in Latin America, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Chile are already experiencing, or about to be affected by, floods and droughts, Mr Sibal said.

Philippine officials who spoke at the conference said Manila was preparing for El Niño by building more than 8,000 wells and 20,000 small reservoirs and by repairing irrigation canals.

Congressman Margarito Teves said the government has allotted 2.2bn pesos ($65m) for the projects but only 500m pesos ($14.7m) has been released because of delays in the processing of funds.

Leoncio Amadore, director of the Philippine weather bureau, said he expected agricultural damage from the current El Niño to be worse than in the early 1980s, when a drought destroyed 590,000 tons of rice on more than one million acres of rice land.

He said that last month, the Philippines received 40% less rainfall than normal.
 

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