The Philippine Online Chronicles

The drought brought about by the El Niño weather phenomenon has caused P2.84 billion in damages to crops, reported the Department of Agriculture (DA).

"Of the affected farms, 35,360 hectares are palay fields. Damaged palay crops reached 56,696 tons valued at P963.84 million, while 122,748 hectares of corn fields were also affected," the DA report said.

Agriculture Undersecretary for Operations Joel Rudinas mentioned that 10,533 hectares of the affected farmland will no longer be able to recover from the damage.

“The damaged crops are in their irrecoverable stage,” he said.

The drought has fallen heavily in 14 provinces including Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino in Northern Luzon, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque and Romblon which make up the MIMARO region, Masbate in Bicol; and Antique, Guimaras and Negros Occidental in Western Visayas.

Of these, Isabela is said to have been hit the worst, suffering P1.85 billion worth of palay and corn crops damage.

The government is spending P6 billion of a P20 billion "safety net" fund to allay the results of the drought, which is expected to last until July.

According to Rudinas, the fund will go to cloud seeding, irrigation, and monitoring of a possible outbreak of pests triggered by drought, as well as infrastructure projects.

“We have been telling the government that despite the ravages of the El Niño in Luzon and the Visayas, the opportunity has also presented itself in terms of the infrastructure that have been needed in rural areas,” he said. “I’ve told them that this is now the perfect time to put up those infrastructure projects because of the weather that would not pose any interruption.”

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites