The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Negros Oriental is lining up interventions and prepositioning farm inputs for farmers, especially rice and corn planters, who are expected to be badly hit by the dry spell of El Niño threatening the country this year.
Alejandro Rafal, Provincial Agriculture Program Coordinating Officer of the DA-Negros Oriental, said the agriculture sector would be the most affected by this abnormal weather phenomenon.
“We have already prepositioned seeds, fertilizers and machinery for distribution to farmers tilling two hectares and below who will be hit by the El Niño,” he said during a Kapihan forum yesterday.
Central Visayas is among the 14 regions in the Philippines predicted to be hit by El Niño, Rafal said.
Some of the preparations being undertaken by the local DA offices include the maximization of non-vulnerable areas to flooding and drought that may be planted with rice or corn, he said.
DA is now mapping out these areas, Rafal said, adding that vulnerable areas will be aided with the use of the agency’s Quick Response Funds.
For Central Visayas, Rafal said the agency has allotted over P292.8 million in anticipation of El Niño, to be distributed to four provinces.
For now, Rafal said there is hope for the farmers to still enjoy good yields during the wet season, which has already started because of the rains.
Negros Oriental has about 19,000 hectares planted for rice and some 60,000 hectares of corn fields.
Based on Pagasa’s forecast, during the wet season which has already commenced, crops will not be affected yet, but from September 16 up to early next year or the dry season would be the most critical time for the farmers, Rafal said.
It would be difficult for the rice farmers to produce the desired number of metric tons during the dry spell, he said.
The DA official reassured that while Negros Oriental is not self-sufficient on rice with only 32 percent production due to lack of areas and limited source of irrigation, importation of the staple will assure the constituents of food security.
“In terms of food security, the province is really secured because of the availability of rice in the market, but as far as the production is concerned for Negros Oriental, we cannot meet the requirement,” he said.
The province has a requirement of 117,000 metric tons of rice and is only producing 37,000 metric tons, he added.
Rafal said the agency’s concern now is to protect the rice and corn farmers from the abnormal effects of El Niño, which include flooding and an extreme dry spell.
Projected to be affected by flooding are 14,395 hectares of corn while 572 hectares of rice are expected to be damaged by drought, he said. (PNA)