DA sets P130 M for La Niña impact

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY — At least P130 million was set aside by the Department of Agriculture to fund mitigating measures for the expected impact of La Niña on the agriculture sector in the Cordillera.

Abra will get the biggest allocation of P37.2 million which will be used to address the needs of over 6,000 hectares of identified vulnerable agricultural lands in its 27 towns.

At the same time, Apayao, one of the identified food poor provinces in the country, will be receiving at least P.9 million to cover the expected damages to the over 5,000 hectares of agricultural lands in the 7 towns.

Ifugao was allotted P17.8 million in the list of provinces to be given utmost attention followed by Mountain province with a little over 1,000 hectares of vulnerable farmlands was given P12.6 million for its 10 municipalities.

Benguet, which was the most damaged province during the onslaught of Typhoon Pepeng last year, received the least La Niña mitigation assistance with only P8 million allocated for the 500 hectares of vulnerable agricultural lands in its 13 towns.

The DA-Cordillera identified the projects considered as La Niña mitigating measures such as distribution of foliar, organic and inorganic fertilizers with a total of over 87,500 bags.

The agency will also be distributing to the six provinces over 1,200 liters of other types of fungicides and insecticides.

Apart from farm inplements, irrigation facilities and rehabilitation of watering equipment and slope protection walls will be continuously be implemented by the agriculture department which has an initial cost of 50.6 million.

Furthermore, 17,500 bags of seeds will also be given to the affected farmers.

The agriculture department will also be implementing program management trainings in the different provinces under an initial budget of P6 million to provide the farmers with the appropriate information and education on how to weather the effects of La Niña on their farms.

On the support to high value crops, the agency will be distributing assorted seeds to concerned farmers, especially in Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao to help them cope with the excessive rains on their plantations.

The DA-Cordillera also gave farmers agri-infrastructure with the rehabilitation of rain shelters or greenhouses. Some 50 greenhouses were being repaired by the agency with a partial project cost of at least P1 million.