BACOLOD CITY—To mitigate the effects of El Niño in Negros Occidental, the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Region 18 has allocated almost P416-million worth of comprehensive mitigation and adaption measures for the province, one of its officials said.
DA-18 Technical Director for Research and Regulation Joyce Wendam said on Tuesday the measures will be implemented in three phases, which includes the pre-emptive and preparatory actions, actions during the event and aftermath actions.
Within the first quarter the pre-emptive and preparatory action stage will be implemented, Wendam said.
Actions include the creation of the Provincial El Niño Task Force composed of the DA-18, Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, local government units and other
attached agencies.
Wendam said the DA-18 has allotted P7 million for this phase intended for cloud-seeding operation, with counterpart fund from the OPA.
The DA official added that they will immediately request assistance from the Bureau of Soils and Water Management if there is really a need for cloud-seeding operation.
Almost P180 million will also be spent for technical-support services under the preemptive and preparatory actions, including the procurement of construction materials for vertical-shellfish production, marine-engine assistance, seedling-planting propagation and diversion-dam projects.
The phase two, or actions during the event, will have a budget of P125-million worth for production services that will also be implemented in the first quarter.
Measures include procurement and distribution of drought-resilient seeds of palay and corn, and planting materials for alternative crops like sweet potato, gabi (taro), legumes and vegetables, and of El Niño kits, pump and engine sets, and drill water pumps.
The DA-18 has also set aside almost P1.3 million in food-assistance fund mainly as hunger and malnutrition mitigation for affected families.
Moreover, for aftermath actions, technical-support services amounting to about P110 million will be implemented on the second quarter of 2016, mainly covering procurement of farm machinery and equipment, particularly to support and augment farmers for land cultivation, reproduction and post-production.
“For the DA, the El Niño mitigation and adaption measures fund for this year will still come from Region 6 as the newly-created region will not have its own budget in 2017 yet,” Wendam said.
The prolonged dry weather in Negros Occidental due to El Niño has brought crop damage and production losses amounting to P35.148 million as of Tuesday, a report of the OPA showed.