The damage wreaked by El Niño on agriculture again exposed the government’s lack of preparations to deal with the weather phenomenon.
The current El Niño and its severity have been predicted nearly a year before it started to happen. Yet, the government failed to make plans to mitigate the prolonged dry spell and minimize the damage on agriculture crops.
Agricultural damage caused by the El Niño phenomenon has already reached P4.7 billion as of Feb. 26, according to the Department of Agriculture. The damage to rice, corn, high-value crops and livestock also affected 121,490 farmers nationwide.
The Agriculture Department, it seems, has not taken a proactive stance in dealing with El Niño. Much of its so-called intervention measures are still to be implemented at a time when the dry spell is about to reach its peak.
Its pronouncement of allotting more than P900 million this year to mitigate the impact of El Niño is too late. The amount aims to fund cloud seeding operations and the purchase of hybrid and certified seeds, multi-stress tolerant seed varieties, organic fertilizers and soil ameliorants.
The department, upon learning of the extent of crop damage so far, promised to release cash to replace non-service pumps, solar pumps, wind pumps, and quick repair and rehabilitation of small water impounding projects and diversion dams.
Such mitigation measures, however, should have been prepared and implemented much earlier when the weather phenomenon was just starting. At the very least, the government could have sped up the releases of the funds at the start of the year to effectively minimize the damage on crops and agricultural lands.
The presidential candidates, meanwhile, should present their respective climate change agenda to the public. A clear-cut climate change policy could save previous lives and lessen the financial damage that will normally be funded from the national budget.
El Niño and other destructive weather phenomena may occur more often in the future. The incoming government should be prepared to deal with them.