ALTHOUGH Davao City is not directly affected by the El Niño, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio still requested the City Agriculturist’s Office (CAO) to come up with a Dry Spell Plan this year.
In an interview with SunStar Davao Tuesday, April 16, CAO head Leo Brian Leuterio said the mayor understood that dry spell is a drawn-out period where the weather is dry for an abnormally long time which may occur anytime or recur several times.
“As far as dry spell is concern, there are certain angles. One is that, Mayor Inday Sara is asking us to produce a Dry Spell Plan kay ang iyang tan-aw is (she sees it) that, this is not a question of ‘if’ but a question of ‘when’,” Leuterio said.
“Gusto niya na dili na magbalik-balik nga mag-take og action or mitigating measures na dali-dali. We have certain activities for dry spell but dili man gud siya wholistic. Ang gusto ni Mayor is naka-checklist na gyud para sayon na lang siya (What the mayor wants is to have specific actions against dry spell in place because we have certain activities for it but is not wholistic),” he added.
The Dry Spell Plan is still in the budgeting stage. Leuterio said they are proposing around P25 million to P50 million budget for water supplies, including water pumps, containers, tanks, reservoir, among others.
“Ang main issue sa dry spell is tubig, therefore we need to increase its supply whether it is through pumps, tanks, fishponds, basta ma-increase (The main issue of dry spell is water, therefore we need to increase its supply whether it be through pumps, tanks, fishponds, so long as it will be increased),” he said.
Leuterio added that there will be other assistance to be given to farmers like interventions, fertilizers, distribution of seedlings, technical support, monitoring, and others.
Offices involved are City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, CAO, City Veterinarian Office, City Social Services and Development Office, Barangay Council, and City Health Office.