KIDAPAWAN CITY—The North Cotabato provincial government has placed its entire area under a state of calamity.
Crop damage rose due to the ill effects of El Niño compounded by rat infestation in five of its towns.
North Cotabato has 17 towns and Kidapawan City under its area of jurisdiction.
On Tuesday the Sangguniang Panlalawigan fast tracked the approval of the resolution declaring the stately misfortune as recommended by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) chaired by Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza.
Provincial Agriculturist Eliseo Mangliwan said the dry spell has so-far damaged 27,558.55 hectares of farm crops amounting to P238,017,916.35 due to water shortage and rat infestation.
The farmland damage includes coconut (9,956 hectares, P116 million); corn (3,690 hectares, P50 million); rubber (10,722 hectares, P48 million); rice/palay (548 hectares, P15 million); oil palm (2,199 hectares, P6 million); cacao (153 hectares, P2 million); and coffee (287 hectares, P713,000).
Two severely drought-affected municipalities were Alamada in the First District and Kabacan in the Third District of the province.
Mangliwan said the dry spell, felt since November last year, desiccated rain-fed and communal
water-irrigation systems, particularly in upland areas of the province.
He said rat attack on huge agricultural farms in the towns of Arakan, Antipas, President Roxas, Matalam, and Kabacan continued despite efforts of their office to contain the problem.
The declaration of the state of calamity would allow the provincial government to utilize its 5-percent calamity fund.
Initially, the provincial government has allotted P4 million for cloud-seeding operations.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration earlier announced that the drought would last until April this year.