THE Head of the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) in Misamis Oriental Monday, March 11, said the production loss on rice, corn and high value crops in the province due to the weak El Niño has reached to more than P30 million.
Provincial agriculturist Jose Apollo Pacamalan said the damage on rice is P4 million, P26 million in corn and around P78,000 in high value crops, as of Monday, March 11.
A total of 516.7 hectares of rice, corn and high value crops were damaged while around 510 farmers were so far affected. Towns in the province’s second district were mostly affected by the dry spell.
Affected municipalities include El Salvador City, Opol, Alubijid, Laguindingan, Gitagum, Initiao, Manticao, Naawan, Lugait, Balingasag, Tagoloan and Lagonglong.
Pacamalan said the damage may rise in the coming weeks.
He said the PAO is doing the color-coding strategy to determine the level of impact of dry spell in an affected village. He also said when a barangay is placed in “red” it means the barangay is 100 percent affected and needs immediate action. It will also signal the capitol’s disaster office to intervene.
For code “green”, it means the barangay is 50 percent affected while code “yellow” means the village is slightly affected.
“If (code) green that means a barangay can still be able to cope, but there is still possible intervention for them. If there is a harvesting facility around, if they will harvest the crops, we are going to give, if needed, water pumps so that the crops will be saved,” he said.
He admitted that identifying the exact figures of those affected is a challenge for them, because it requires stringent monitoring in order to efficiently deliver their programs and intervention to the affected farmers.
Governor Yevgeny Emano ordered the PAO to continuously monitor and assess each town for the release of either food or financial assistance.
“Last year nakahatag mi (we gave out) P7,000 per farmer. Hopefully now, the PAO and PSWD (Provincial Social Welfare and Development) will be able to give them, if not financial assistance, (maybe) food assistance (instead),” Emano said.
Emano said they are assisting and investing in Claveria town which is not that affected by the dry spell.
The governor said the province’s food production will not be totally affected by the dry season because of the buffer supply from Claveria town. He said Claveria contributes one-third of the province’s agricultural products.
“Claveria lang ang wala kaayo naapektuhan Wala pud problema didto ang mga tirbutaries like brooks, spring and river (Only Claveria was not much affected by the dry spell; there are no problems in the brooks, springs, and rivers as well),” he added.
Emano also said the capitol has enough water pumps to give should affected farmers need it to save their crops. (Alwen Saliring)