Risk Assessment Revision 3

Cumulative weather events occur over a long duration and includes the following:

• Droughts

• Forest fire

• Floods

• La Nina

• Increase in sea level

Answer explanation

Weather events can be categorised under 'sudden' or 'cumulative'. Sudden weather events such as dust storms can occur without warning and have unpredictable impact. Cumulative weather events such as droughts occur over a longer duration and include climate-change related events. You are more likely to see them coming.

Warm temperatures can result in a decrease in crop yield due to:

• crops experiencing heat stress

• increase in photosynthetic rates

• increase in pest population

• more nutrient and water uptake

Answer explanation

Warmer temperatures can either increase or decrease the crop yields. Reasons for increase in yields include higher photosynthetic rates. However, plants can experience heat stress and decrease in productivity, such as a decrease in grain weight and size due to increase in temperatures.

What are the strategies an individual farmer can employ to mitigate weather risks?

• Purchase weather-based crop insurance

• Adopt climate-resilient crops

• Buffer stock scheme such as Rice Stockpile Scheme

• Receive assistance such as food handouts during floods

Answer explanation

An individual farmer can purchase weather-based insurance where available to mitigate weather risks. Weather risks is part of production risks. Buffer stocks and emergency handouts are government's strategies for managing weather risks.

A company has sensors embedded in the ground at its fruit farms to report every 30 minutes on the humidity; the moisture content of the soil and the temperature of the area to determine the weather conditions of its crops. It collects this data from sensors at 60 different locations. Is this Big Data?

• Yes

• No

Answer explanation

ICT and IoT-enabled sensors and devices have generated large quantities of data from a diversity of sources, also known as big data. These information can potentially be analysed and improve prediction and decision-making in the agriculture sector.

Which of the following is a usage of Big Data by a farmer?

• Collect climate information

• Determine buying patterns

• Plan payroll of farmworkers

• Selection of crops and production techniques for the weather forecasted

Answer explanation

ICT has allowed the collection and analysis of the large amounts of climate data and the generation of accurate weather forecasting. This benefits farmers in areas, like understanding of current climate trends, selection of crop and production techniques for the forecasted weather, decisions on pest management strategies and agricultural inputs like water and pesticides, and commodity trends. This is especially important for farmers who need more assistance to manage the rapid and extreme weather changes.

ICT can help to mitigate which of the following 3 risks that Supply Chains face when accessing the global market place?

• Production risk

• Sanitary risk

• Phytosanitary risk

• Weather risk

• Default risk

Answer explanation

ICT-enabled applications have an impact in mitigating three risks supply chains accessing the global market faced. The three risks are sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) risks and default risk. Sanitary risks refer to risks of animal and human from catching diseases or contamination while phytosanitary risks refer to the same for plants. This relates to food safety and the need for food

traceability. Default risks refer to the risk that the borrower, for example a farmer, is unable to repay

the credit loan as agreed. Production and weather risks are faced by the farmers.