TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Sept. 7 (PNA) — Provincial Agriculturist Dr. Anastacia Notarte asked the people of Davao del Norte to conserve water in order to mitigate the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
Even though Davao del Norte is not considered a high risk, the provincial government is not taking any chances with the looming dry spell forecast to affect 32 provinces toward the end of the year.
Notarte stressed that every Dabaonon has a role to play, particularly the farmers, to mitigate the effects of the dry spell.
“One should knowingly take notice how to conserve water. Our rice farmers, in particular, should always be observant if the rice paddies are already full. They should apply intermittent irrigation. They should save water instead of disposing the excess water to the rivers,” she said.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), early this year, identified the province of Davao del Norte as among those affected by the dry spell.
Notarte cited some measures implemented by her office including ensuring the rice farms and distribution of drought-resistant seeds as well as installation of water pumps that could irrigate 10 hectares of rice land each.
She further explained that farmers should avail of the rice crop insurance given to farmers.
The program is a disaster-preparedness program of the provincial government to mitigate the severe effect of El Niño.
The official stressed that insurance is a big help in case rice cropping fails, especially that the indemnity could at least cover part of the losses.
She added that farmers can also utilize the fund to go for substitute crops for food sufficiency.
With the looming El Niño, Notarte now doubts whether the province can still sustain its food sufficiency level.
She said the 86 percent rice sufficiency of the province is expected to drop in case the dry spell prolongs, although Davao del Norte belongs to the provinces with medium-risk vulnerability to El Niño.
At present, Davao del Norte is producing 4.47 tons of rice per hectare in all ecosystem as compared to the 4.09 tons per hectare in the previous year.
The El Niño phenomenon is an unusual warming of the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Pacific Ocean that results to extreme weather.
This would mean drought for the continents of Asia and Australia, while the other parts of the globe like the US expect more rains. (PNA)