Agriculture officials hope for a far less destructive episode of the El Nino weather disruption in the months ahead when the availability of life-sustaining rainfall in the upcoming crop season is forecast below normal.
But even a so-called weak El Nino, which last occurred in 2019, wrought destruction estimated in excess of P10 billion for rice and corn crops alone, the Department of Agriculture said.
This had direct impact on 357,000 crop-yielding hectares of farmland with estimated volume losses reaching 618,845 metric tons.
As a result, preparations are afoot to shield the normally high yield producing provinces of the country from the impact of below normal rainfall anticipated in the regions of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Caraga.
Such preparations include adjustments in the cropping calendar, cloud seeding, intensified water management, water pump prepositioning and the granting of another round of subsidies for farmers and fisherfolk as petitioned by the advocacy group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).
“It is high time for the Department of Agriculture to grant P15,000 production subsidies for farmers and fishers. Important support services including seeds, farm inputs and implements are also needed to counter the increasing costs of production,” the group said in a statement.
The DA acknowledged the forecast dry spell painted by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration or PAG-ASA were to intensify around June or July but should be felt the most from August up to January next year.
“Based on the latest climate outlook of PAG-ASA) many provinces will have below average rainfall by October. We will see if there is a need to adjust cropping calendars or intensify water management with the help of the National Irrigation Administration and the irrigation associations,” said undersecretary Nichols Manalo, field operations service officer-in-charge at the DA.
“The DA is also preparing water pump sets for areas with insufficient water supply. The agency, through the Bureau of Soils and Water Management and the Philippine Air Force will also conduct cloud seeding operations in areas that will not be reached by irrigation services,” Manalo added.
But according to Nazario Briguera, spokesperson at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the El Nino and the warm surface water it produces on oceans, has a positive impact on pelagic fish catch like tuna and sardines whose output looks favorable at this point although aquaculture could suffer the opposite impact.
