The El Niño has already wreaked havoc on the agriculture sector to the tune of P3.32 billion as of August 13, according to the latest report from the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The country’s corn industry posted the biggest production loss, at P2.21 billion. The report showed that 158,809 metric tons (MT) of corn were damaged in some 112,387 hectares of land, affecting 35,509 corn farmers.
Damage to the rice sector reached 58,485 MT, worth P1.09 billion. About 28,734 rice farmers were affected in 30,665 hectares of land.
A total production loss of 1,086 MT in high-value crops, valued at P19.56 million, were incurred, while P11,000 worth of damage was reported in the livestock sector.
The same report showed Region 2 took the brunt of the drought’s impact, accounting for P1.16 billion of the total production loss. The affected areas reached 74,173 hectares, damaging 89,074 MT of crops. The DA said field validation is still ongoing in the region.
This was followed by Region 12, which lost 50,285 MT of crops, valued at P980 million.
Region 10 lost 53,223 MT of crops due to the weather phenomenon, pegged at P762.07 million.
Agriculture Undersecretary for Operations and Agribusiness and Marketing Emerson U. Palad said in an earlier interview that the DA is implementing interventions to mitigate the adverse effects of the El Niño.
“We’ve been prepared since last year. Cloud-seeding operations in different parts of the country are still ongoing. We are partnering with local government units for their implementation,” he said.
The DA is also rolling out its water- management and production-support programs to help farmers deal with the impact of the drought. Pumps have been distributed and small impounding projects and diversion dams have been constructed, the agency said.
Multistress tolerant rice seeds (Green Super Rice), early-maturing rice seeds and heat-tolerant crops were also provided to the affected farmers. Palad said the DA has requested additional P900 million in funding for the agency’s El Niño-mitigation efforts.
“The DA has been using its regular budget for its El Niño-mitigation projects since 2014. We’ve so far been able to assist areas that are most vulnerable to the drought. But now, we’re closer to acquiring a special budget of P900 million solely for El Niño purposes,” Palad said.
He said an El Niño task force was also formed to focus on the issue. This task force will hold meetings to assess the damage and decide for an action plan to minimize the damage brought by the drought to the agriculture sector. In an economic bulletin, Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Gil S. Beltran said the low inflation rates in the previous months could be reversed with the onset of El Niño from August to November this year.
“Sustained lower rates of inflation shall give policy-makers more headroom to respond to external and internal economic shocks. The onset of the El Niño, however, may undermine previous gains as it may exert upward pressure on food prices, water bills and hydroelectric-generation rates. The government and the private sector should cooperate in crafting the appropriate policy response,” Beltran said in his economic bulletin.
Inflation in August continued to go down, from 0.8 percent in July to only 0.6 percent in August, mainly because of the lower international oil prices and electricity rates. Beltran said the possible measures that the government and the private sector must do to address higher inflation that could be brought about by El Niño are putting the necessary infrastructure in place, particularly irrigation systems and farm-to-market roads; getting ready to import products, the production of which will be affected by El Niño; and, for the most affected areas, shifting to crops and varieties that are most resistant to drought.
(With David Cagahastian)