Senatorial candidate and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez on Thursday urged the government to intensify its conduct of cloud seeding operations in places affected by El Niño phenomenon and extend loans to the troubled farmers as immediate “malasakit” (compassion) to their plight.
While the concerned government has already been cloud seeding in El Niño- stricken areas, Romualdez said the national and local governments should work double time and united to mitigate the impact of El Niño and damages to the agriculture sector.
“We have to prevent further damages to the agriculture sector now,” Romualdez said even as he called on the government to extend loans and other aid such as cloud seeding operations through the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau on Soil and Water Management.
“The national government and LGUs [local government units] should assist farmers not only with food supplies but also with loans to tide them over while the drought has yet to abate, apart from possible cloud seeding operations in affected areas,” Romualdez stressed.
The Leyte opposition leader issued the statement following reports that the country has already lost more than P4.7 billion worth of crops due to the weather phenomenon since February last year.
“The administration should show genuine compassion or malasakit for farmers who face hunger and the dire prospect of sinking deeper into poverty because of El Niño,” Romualdez said.
Romualdez’s position was supported by fellow opposition lawmaker, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III who stressed the need for the national government and the local government units “to undertake more aggressive and high impact programs” to lessen the impact of the worsening dry spell in the country.
“As the government has identified several provinces where there is expected minimal rainfalls due to El Niño, clearly, there is an urgent need for more aggressive programs and to lessen the dreaded worst ever drought to hit mother earth in decades,” Albano said.
“We have to put in place policy initiatives, short- and long-term water supply development, management and conservation measures, water impounding dams and efficient irrigation systems including adoption of modern and innovative farming and fishery technologies to lessen the impact of the dry spell which is already with us now,” Albano said.
Data from the Department of Agriculture showed that the prolonged dry spell affected has 222,781 hectares across the country, causing damage to 349,620 metric tons of crops or P4.77 billion in losses from February 2015 to February 2016.
For 2016, the damage was posted at P1.343 billion, covering a total of 76,593 hectares in eight regions.
A total of 54,619 farmers lost more than 119,000 metric tons in production, the DA said.
Romualdez lamented the extensive crop damage in the various regions like in Northern Mindanao (Region 10) which took the brunt of the drought with damage worth P358.4 million, followed by Western Visayas with P356.56 million; Soccsksargen with P232.89; ARMM with P214.6 million; Mimaropa with P154.19 million; Zamboanga with P14.02 million; Ilocos with P10.27 million; and Caraga with P2.99 million.