Still early to declare state of calamity–DA
DROUGHT IN PANGASINAN
LINGAYEN–The Department of Agriculture said it is still premature to declare Pangasinan under a state of calamity as a result of the current drought that has already wrought havoc to 1,850 hectares of rice land.
DA Director Cipriano Santiago, who gave a briefing before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on Monday, acknowledged that the drought brought about by the El Niño phenomenon has affected a vast area of farmland, but maintained it is still “insignificant to warrant a declaration” of calamity.
Santiago reported that of the 1,850 hectares of rice fields classified as totally damaged, 74 hectares had standing crop and 1,779 hectares are areas that could not be planted due to lack of water.
On top of these, there are also 1,209 hectares of partially damaged rice fields.
Estimated losses on totally and partially damaged rice fields has reached 9,587 metric tons or P162.9 Million.
Santiago explained that there are actually 64,531 hectares of rice fields actually planted, or 106 percent of the target 60,792 hectares.
This translates to a 4.7 percent production loss in the number of hectares that are actually planted.
To mitigate the drought, the Department of Agriculture has provided shallow tube wells (STWs) to affected farmers and is implementing irrigation rotation and downstream-upstream irrigation scheduling.
The provincial government, for its part, has distributed 200 shallow tube wells and committed to deliver 300 soon.
Weather Specialist Rusy Abastillas from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), who was also at the briefing, said based on El Niño Advisory No. 7, Pangasinan is included among 25 provinces under dry spell areas.
These are areas that are expected to have rainfall deficiency in the next three to four months, which means a delay in the onset of the rainy season, and the summer months will have higher temperatures than usual.
The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) officials, on the other hand, informed the Sangguniang Panlalawigan that irrigation systems in the province still operate normally except those in Ambayaoan and San Fabian, which are now operating 50 percent below normal flow.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources reported that it is continuously monitoring aqua-culture areas, especially along the coast, and found that water quality remains favorable to fish culture.
All the officials said one of the reasons why the province is not yet severely affected by the El Niño is because it belongs to the part of the country that has Type 1 Climate, where the summer months are normally dry.
This means that farmers are accustomed to planting early for an early harvest, thus avoiding drought during the summer.
At the same time, it was reported that livestock and poultry industry in the province is not yet affected by the phenomenon on account of the new technologies introduced in animal raising, which include the installation of panel vents in pig pens and chicken coops.—LM
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