RP farmers get $5-M grant to counter climate change

The Department of Agriculture (DA) announced Thursday it has developed a master plan for helping farmers counter the negative effects of dry spell brought on by El Niño on their crops.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap disclosed the department has obtained a $5-million grant from the World Bank’s Global Environment Facility to fund the project.

He made the announcement during the Management Committee (ManCom) meeting at the department’s central office in Quezon City where World Bank representatives briefed agriculture executives and field officers about the Philippine Climate Change Adaptation Project.

Environment specialists Samuel Wedderburn and Felizardo Virtucio Jr. presented the project during the ManCom meeting.

They explained the pilot project is meant to demonstrate approaches on how to help Philippine agricultural communities cope with the negative impact of climate change.

Wedderburn is a senior natural resources management specialist for East Asia rural development and environment, while Virtucio is operations officer for rural development.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Agriculture department will comprise the technical working group that will oversee the detailed preparation for the initiative.

Yap expressed the hope that the project would primarily help the government in coming up with accurate data on weather conditions, and consolidating the diverse and separate agencies dealing with climate change.

“We are hoping that this project will help us get the big picture as far as climate change is concerned and to get us working together,” Yap told the two World Bank officials during a meeting.

“Reliable data is still absent today,” he said, “so that the DA, for one, is having difficulty anticipating weather patterns and most of the time only reacts to actual weather conditions or changes as they come.”

Dry spell hits Visayas regions, Masbate
Besides the onslaught of water distress in Cagayan Valley region (Isabela, Cagayan and Nueva Viscaya), the dry spell has started in the Visayas and Masbate regions with crops exhibiting signs of water shortage, the Agriculture department disclosed.

Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas said continuous insufficient supply of water in Northern regions and parts of Visayas will result in substandard cropping during the dry season.

In Cagayan Valley, Director Andrew Villacorda of DA-Region II, said farmers here have sowed their crop seedlings during the main cropping season in October until December last year.

The Agriculture department’s cloud seeding efforts to counter the dry spell are also being stalled because of the lack of suitable clouds. Cloud seeding operations subsidized by the department have been unsuccessful due to absence of clouds in the past days.

He said the Regional and Provincial Action Team in Region II has called an emergency meeting on Wednesday to polish possible remedies to defy the onslaught of dry spell in the region.

The action team members came from the Department of Agriculture, the National Irrigation Administration, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, National Food Authority, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, the National Tobacco Administration, Philippine Coconut Authority and the provincial and local governments.

He said the DA’s regional office in Region II has executed initial assistance to farmers such as fuel subsidy to operate power pumps, free water pumps, continues cloud seeding, distribution of pesticides and insecticides and subsidy for seeds.

Meanwhile, Gov. Alvaro Antonio of Cagayan province has called on to the national government to focus their assistance effort to the needy farmers in the province.

“We need urgent help here. We cannot wait anymore for the DA’s move. We need to swiftly act on the problem and assist our farmers,” the governor said.

Cagayan farmers hit hardest by El Niño
Antonio said farmers in Cagayan had lost about P300-million worth of palay (rice husk) and P600 million of corn products in January. Cagayan is the foremost producer of corn and second only to Isabela as the biggest rice producer in the country. The province supplies most of the rice requirements of Region I, Metro Manila, and Regions IV-A and IV-B. It provides 25 percent of the country’s rice needs.

Isabela province had also declared a state of calamity last week because of dry spell brought by El Niño.

Antonio, however, assured the public that they are doing everything to help soften the impact of El Niño on farmers. “Today, what we have to do is make water pumps accessible in farmlands. We will purchase more water pumps and if the need arises, we will even subsidize fuel to farmers.” –Jun Marcos Correspondent, Manila Times