DROUGHT. Workers check on a parched rice field in Ilocos Norte in this undated photo. As of March 9, 2024, the Department of Agriculture-Ilocos Region has recorded PHP130 million worth of losses involving corn, rice and other high-value crops. (Photo courtesy Provincial Agriculture Office)
MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – Crop damage in the Ilocos Region due to the El Niño phenomenon has already reached PHP130 million, nearly 50 percent of which are in corn fields.
Department of Agriculture-Ilocos information officer Vida Cacal, in an interview on Tuesday, said around PHP63.8 million worth of corn crops were affected followed by rice (PHP53.9 million) and high-value crops (PHP12.6 million).
Cacal said the dry spell has already affected 5,925 farmers and 2,966.98 hectares of land in the Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte.
There are no validated reports yet of damage in La Union and among livestock.
“Many of the losses were from corn crops because this is the planting season for corn while the cropping season for rice is only about to start,” she said.
Cacal said the Agriculture department has allotted PHP1.5 billion to help address the dry spell’s impact.
She said financial and in-kind aid like seeds, water pumps, and solar-powered irrigation systems have been distributed to affected farmers.
On Jan. 19, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order (EO) No. 53 to streamline, reactivate, and reconstitute the old El Niño Task Force under EO No. 16 (s. 2001) and Memorandum Order No. 38 (s. 2019).
Under EO No. 53, the President instructed the task force to develop a comprehensive disaster preparedness and rehabilitation plan for El Niño and La Niña to provide “systematic, holistic, and results-driven interventions” to help the public cope and minimize devastating effects. (PNA)
