DA, El Niño task force implement plans vs dry spell

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Friday that they and other agencies under the Interagency Task Force on El Niño have started implementing measures to mitigate the impact of the expected prolonged dry spell on food production.

According to the DA, the interventions were to help farmers and fisherfolk who would be adversely affected by the weather phenomenon. 

In a news release, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said interventions undertaken by agencies under the DA include repair and rehabilitation of irrigation canals, cloud-seeding, dispersal of farm animals and provision of alternative livelihoods for farmers and fishermen, implementation of low-water-use technology for rice farming and quick-turnaround strategy.

“We are leaving no stones unturned in our effort to ease the impact of El Nino on our farmers and fishermen as well as consumers by ensuring food production is sufficient, and supply is secure during the expected dry spell that could affect a majority of provinces and millions who depend on agriculture and fisheries,” Laurel said.

The Agriculture Secretary added that out of 843 kilometers of target irrigation canals, 740 kilometers had been improved and constructed as of November, while 40 units of small-scale irrigation systems covering 1,477.5 hectares were repaired and rehabilitated to distribute water more effectively and efficiently.

The DA’s Bureau of Soil and Water Management had also requested P112 million for cloud-seeding operations in 2024 to supplement the water requirement of standing crops during periods of low rainfall.

Cloud-seeding operations would be undertaken in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology, which would provide information for optimum cloud-seeding operations, and the Department of National Defense, which would provide aircraft.

Through the Philippine Native Animal Development Program, the DA would distribute 56,169 animals to 297 farmer groups and 470 individual farmers.

The department would also provide Bicol, Central Visayas, and Zamboanga Peninsula Region fishermen with alternative livelihood and technologies adaptive to climate change.

Laurel said the DA would entice more rice farmers to use alternative wetting and drying technology to save water.

The agriculture chief said the technology had been successfully used by over 1.2 million farmers and implemented on 9,210 hectares of rice fields.

The DA chief added that 17,660 hectares of rice fields were targeted for the quick-turnaround strategy in which rice farmers would immediately replant rice without waiting for months to take advantage of the remaining moisture in the soil.

Laurel said the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. was tasked to indemnify affected farmers, and from June to November this year had insured 1.27 million farmers - around 76 percent of the target group.

The PCIC had set aside P1.8 billion to insure 916,759 farmers and fishermen between January and June next year.
 
The DA chief said PCIC had also set aside P500 million as credit support under its Survival and Recovery Loan Program of the Agriculture Credit Policy Council for some 20,000 borrowers who may be affected by calamities, including the El Niño phenomenon. — DVM, GMA Integrated News