BAGUIO CITY – As early as July last year, the Department of Agriculture Cordillera (DA-CAR) has distributed and will continue to distribute equipment aside from seeds to farmers in drought-identified areas in the region.
On the February 12, 2024, Management Committee meeting of the regional agriculture department, DA-CAR Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Officer Crisante Rosario explained that based on the PAGASA climate outlook track, the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, and Kalinga have been forecast by state weather station to experience drought conditions that started in January and are expected to affect the said provinces until April this year, while Ifugao and Mountain Province have been forecast to experience dry condition that began in January and is seen to last until March of this year.
“Aside from the provinces identified by the PAGASA climate track that are and will experience drought and dry conditions, we are currently monitoring 21 municipalities in the 6 provinces that had been categorized as areas having a high-risk and very high-risk of drought. DA-CAR has started the distribution of water pumps since last year while similar equipment will be delivered this month to other beneficiaries aside from seeds that will be distributed to farmers that will be affected by the weather phenomenon,” Rosario said.
Based on the hazard indices of the Climate Risk Vulnerability Assessment report, 5 municipalities in Abra have been identified as high-risk areas for drought aside from 3 other municipalities categorized as having a very high risk for drought, Apayao has 3 municipalities under high risk with 2 municipalities under very high risk, Benguet has 1 municipality under high risk with 1 municipality under very high risk, Ifugao has 1 municipality categorized as a moderate risk with 2 municipalities under very high risk, Kalinga has 1 municipality under moderate risk with Tabuk City under very high risk, while Paracelis in Mountain Province has been categorized under very high risk for drought.
For 2024, DA-CAR is scheduled to distribute 48 units of water pumps for rice production to identified beneficiaries in clustered areas as a priority, 12 units of open-source pumping sets and 5 units of solar-powered irrigation sets will be distributed to corn areas, 50 sets of pumps and engine sets aside from 12 units of spring development will be distributed to high-value crops, while 3212.5 sets and packs of veterinary biologics and vaccine will be distributed to municipalities and barangays under the LEED and INSPIRE program, of the DA.
About 171,134 rice and corn seeds amounting to PhP40.3 million have been propositioned by the regional department to be distributed to farmers identified within the vulnerable areas in the region that may feel the brunt of the weather phenomenon.
As of January this year, around 62,717.53 ha. of farmland that was earlier planted with rice, corn, and high-value crops are at risk of drought from its total target production of 67,245.22 ha. Forty (40) percent or 25,267 ha. of which is categorized under newly planted to the vegetative stage, while sixty (60) percent or 37,450 ha. has been listed under the reproduction or maturity stage. By JTLlanes
