Baguio City, Philippines – As the El Niño phenomenon alters rainfall patterns, farmers suffer significant crop losses.
In Cordillera, the damage to crops brought about by the weather pattern stood at P444.91 million as of March 22, according to the latest data released by the Department of Agriculture – Cordillera.
Ifugao was the hardest-hit province with P232.12 million in agricultural damage. Mountain Province came next with P160.51 million loss, followed by Kalinga with P51.14 million, Abra with P591,880, then by Benguet incurring agri-damage of P323,910.
The figure is expected to increase in the coming days, especially that the regional agriculture department has not yet received report from Apayao.
The dry spell affected 5,896 corn farmers with a production loss pegged at P411.34 million.
Some 1,912 rice farmers suffered damage worth P33.38 million, while 63 fisherfolk recorded production loss of 1,470 kilograms of fish worth P226,090.
While the agency is working on the processing of the aid for affected farmers pending the inventory, additional support from the local government units have been asked.
Additionally, the regional department have preposition seeds to be distributed to the farmers in vulnerable areas.
In the midst of the critical water level supply, rotational water delivery and distribution is being conducted by the National Irrigation Authority in a bid to provide enough water to all farms plant.
Amid the looming phenomenon, the DA – Cordillera noted that they going around the market to monitoring the price movements of agricultural products.
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