ZAMBOANGA CITY, March 21 (PNA) – A total of 8,469.2 hectares of land planted with various crops and fishery products have been ravaged as of Wednesday as the continuing dry spell takes its toll on the agriculture sector of this city.
City Agriculturist Diosdado Palacat, in his initial report to Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, estimated the value of the damaged products to about Php 91.973 million.
Palacat said, in terms of volume, 20,996 metric tons of products were affected.
Palacat said of the total 8,469.2 hectares affected, 277 hectares were planted with rice; 31 hectares planted with corn; 8,084.1 hectares planted with banana; 74.5 hectares planted with assorted vegetables; 9.3 hectares planted with cassava; and, .3 hectares were fishpond areas.
At least 1,041.8 hectares of the total area damaged are with no chance of recovery, according to Palacat.
He feared the damage could worsen and consequently affect this city’s agricultural supply if rains will not come by May.
Nevertheless, he said, the dry spell experienced in this city was a normal course as it was usually dry from January to April.
With the situation, he recommended various action plans, foremost of which is the immediate conduct of cloud seeding, to help mitigate the effect of the dry spell on farmers.
The proposed cloud seeding will be a joint undertaking between the local government, Department of Agriculture, and Zamboanga City Water District.
Other action plans Palacat recommended for agricultural crops include information dissemination; pre-mitigating measures primarily to encourage a quick turn-around planting of early maturing varieties; production and distribution of alternate crop seeds and planting materials; pest management; desiltation of communal irrigation system and river dredging; and, procurement and distribution of organic fertilizers.
For the fishery, Palacat proposed the rehabilitation of pumps and water system of existing demo farm, procurement of breeder stocks, information dissemination and procurement and distribution of organic fertilizers. (PNA)