DA moves to ease dry spell impact on farm sector
THE DEPARTMENT of Agriculture said it had distributed to farmers seeds for planting as well as irrigation-related equipment worth a total of at least P84 million as part of government efforts to address the effects of El Niño on farms.
The DA last week said dry conditions caused farmer to lose P5.3 billion worth of crops and livestock since the climate and weather phenomenon’s onset last year.
According to the DA’s field operations services office, one of the thrusts to mitigate El Niño’s effects on food production was to encourage the maximization and optimization of production in non-vulnerable areas.
In light of this, the DA regional field offices over the past 12 months have given out 24,066 bags of certified rice seeds worth P32.7 million and 3,059 bags of hybrid rice seeds worth P15.3 million.
The department also provided soil ameliorants, seeds of multi-stress rice or Green Super Rice, as well as crop insurance coverage.
For corn farmers, the DA gave out 4,164 bags of open-pollinated variety seeds worth P5 million and 1,000 bags of hybrid seeds worth P3 million.
To encourage farmers to shift to other crops that are more resilient in dry conditions, the DA distributed 4,900 kilos of garlic planting materials worth P2.5 million and 3,720 peanut cuttings worth P1.9 million aside from 14,050 kilos of mungbean seeds.
“To address water scarcity in vulnerable areas due to low water levels in reservoirs particularly those that are at the tail-end of the irrigations systems, the DA had distributed 284 units of pump irrigation equipment worth P24.1 million to replace broken pumps,” the department said.
The DA also oversaw the installation and construction of new small water impounding projects, diversion dams as well as the rehabilitation or repair of existing ones.
“Moreover, 5,624 linear meters of irrigation canal were improved for use during the period of the El Niño cropping,” the DA said.
Last week, the DA said farm damage due to El Niño had so far reached P1.9 billion, affecting 62,267 farmers working on 91,027 hectares of farms. Some 134,321 tons of produce were lost.
