BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR) reported that agricultural crops in the region suffered more than P767.7 million worth of damages because of the ongoing effects of the El Nino phenomenon over the past several months.
Based on the latest data obtained from the DA-CAR, the accumulated production losses for rice, corn and high value crops reached more than 40,712.24 metric tons with an equivalent value of P767.7 million with 11,671 farmers affected.
DA-CAR regional executive director lawyer Jennelyn Dawayan said that the corn commodity incurred the highest production loss with a total value of P638.2 million followed by rice with total damages amounting to P127.9 million and that the least affected were the high value commercial crops that sustained damages amounting to P1.5 million.
The DA-CAR official claimed that the good news is that there were no reported mortalities on livestock due to the prolonged drought to date.
She pointed out that out of the 171,771 metric tons target corn production, around 36,864 metric tons production losses due to the drought were already reported which is equivalent to a decrease of 21 percent.
On the other hand, Dawayan stipulated that out of the 355,774 metric tons target production, 3,653 metric tons production losses were recorded by the agency which is equivalent to a decrease of 1.03 percent.
According to her, there are two cropping seasons that has been regularly practiced for rice and corn production, the wet cropping season and the dry cropping season, with corresponding months for planting and harvesting.
However, she explained that the effects of the phenomenon were already felt during the current dry cropping season for rice and corn commodities.
Dawayan said that some 36,800 hectares had been planted with rice while around 57,500 hectares had been planted with corn for the current dry cropping season.
In terms of irrigation network systems, some 426 units small-scale irrigation projects to cover 1,532 hectares production area amounting to P138 million had been implemented by the National irrigation Administration (NIA) last year while around 107-unit similar project to cover 403.5 hectares production area amounting to P78 million had been implemented this year.
For seed reserve program, she disclosed that some 123,650 kilos certified, registered and hybrid rice seeds amounting to P8.89 million while 45,000 kilos of hybrid yellow corn seeds and 2,484 kilos of similar corn seed with a total value of P27.8 million were distributed to the identified beneficiaries around the region.
Moreover, various high value crops with an amount of P3.7 million were also distributed to the identified recipients in vegetable producing communities around the region as part of the El Nino mitigating measures of the agency.
Alfonso Lista, Ifugao reported the highest damage of corn with P221.7 million followed by Paracelis, Mountain Province with corn crop damage amounting to P151.7 million; Tabuk City, Kalinga – P96.4 million; Aguinaldo, Ifugao – P62.6 million; Tanudan, Kalinga – P52.7 million; Lagawe, Ifugao – P13.3 million and Mayoyao, Ifugao – P1.5 million.
In terms of rice, Rizal, Kalinga sustained the highest crop damage with P46.5 million followed by Pinukpuk, Kalinga with P18.7 million; Kabugao, Apayao – P13.1 million Conner, Apayao with P11.1 million; Calanasan, Apayao – P7.9 million; Tabuk City, Kalinga – P5.2 million; Tanudan, Kalinga – P5.1 million; Balbalan, Kalinga – P4.3 million; Lagawe, Ifugao – P4.2 million; Aguinaldo, Ifugao – P2.1 million among others.
Dawayan asserted that the agency earmarked some P31 million in various assistance to the affected rice, corn and high value crop farmers in the different parts of the region that will be used to mitigate the effects of the prolonged drought, especially to the El Nino-impacted communities, for the affected farmers to recover from the losses that they incurred t the height of the dry spell.
Some P10 million worth of assistance for affected rice farmers in Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao had already been distributed to the affected farmers while P12 million worth of assistance had also been given to the impacted corn farmers in the different parts of the region.
More than P13 million worth of solar powered irrigation system is now under procurement by the agency for distribution to corn areas in the region to help in mitigating the effects of prolonged drought in the future. By Dexter A. See
