DA reactivates W. Visayas El Niño task force to form action plan

The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas (Region 6) will reconstitute its Regional Task Force on El Niño next week and come up with an action plan on how to mitigate the impact of the dry spell in the region.

“The Department of Agriculture is preparing for the worst. The department is ready to extend interventions for affected areas,” said DA Western Visayas OIC Regional Director Engr. Jose Albert Barrogo.

Barrogo said they have to reactivate the task force created during the 2018 to 2019 El Niño and revisit and update the action plan that was prepared during the mentioned dry spell to be submitted to the central office next week.

The task force consisting of DA line agencies will set up committees to work on the action plan.

DA data showed that 153,000 or 35 percent of the 436,000 hectares planted with palay were vulnerable to the dry spell that was experienced from 2018 to 2019.

Barrogo said that 125,000 hectares were vulnerable in the dry season and 27,000 hectares in the wet season.

“These are just working data for targeting and planning purposes,” he said.

Aside from enhancing the existing mitigation and action plan, the task force that will be reconstituted will have to do continuous monitoring and coordination with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration for their forecasts.

Other functions of the task force are to conduct regional meetings, training, assessment and massive information dissemination and communication drive; preposition seed reserves, planting materials, drugs and biologics, and pesticides; and have an inventory and pre-position pump and engines where they can be used.

DA will also provide fuel subsidies, planting materials that are of drought-tolerant varieties, fertilizers and soil ameliorants.

Barrogo added that one action being considered for vulnerable areas is the cloud seeding being handled by the Bureau of Soils Water Management.

Palay farmers within the vulnerable areas are advised to shift to other crops.

“Our focus is to identify vulnerable and non-vulnerable so we can at least be prepared. We will try to increase the production in non-vulnerable to cope with the losses from vulnerable areas,” he added.