City agriculture releases aid to farmers

THE Office of the City Agriculture has acted distributed vegetable seeds including fingerlings to farmers and fishpond operators affected by the flooding in two east coast villages in Zamboanga City.

Some 194 families with a total of 776 dependents were affected by the sudden rise in the water last Saturday in various sitios in the village of Curuan and Quiniput.

Six houses made of light materials were swept away while two houses were partially damaged by gushing waters from the swollen Curuan River following torrential rains in the mountains.

City Agriculturist Diosdado Palacat said while damage to agricultural and fishpond products were very minimal, the farmers were immediately provided with vegetable seeds to replace their damaged crops.

Palacat said that rice seeds will be distributed during the planting season.

The Office of the City Agriculture record showed that a total 12 hectares of rice field at Sitio Mina, Curuan village was affected by the floods.

The damage to vegetable products was also very minimal, Palacat said.

For fishponds, Palacat said that 12 hectares (six hectares at Sitio Mina, Curuan and six hectares in nearby Quiniput) were affected but only five percent of the total catch, barely one to three months old, were washed away by the floods.

The total area for fishponds in the villages of Curuan and Quiniput is 97 hectares, Palacat said.

“The damage was very minimal but we immediately provided the necessary assistance to our farmers,” he said.

Most of the affected farmers will also be included in the list of beneficiaries to the financial assistance that the City Government will be giving after assessment by the City Social Welfare and Development Office, he said. (Bong Garcia)