Cordillera farmers get irrigation equipment
BAGUIO CITY: The Department of Agriculture-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) is set to distribute irrigation equipment this year to help corn and rice farmers cushion the impact of drought in the region.
To be distributed are 48 units of water pumps for rice production to identified beneficiaries in clustered areas, and 12 units of open-source pumping sets and five units of solar-powered irrigation sets to corn areas.
Also up for distribution are 50 sets of pumps and engine sets aside from 12 units of spring development to high-value crops, while 3212.5 sets and packs of veterinary biologics and vaccine will be distributed to municipalities and barangay (villages) under the LEED and Inspire program of the DA.
The DA-CAR has started distribution of farm inputs and other equipment as early as July last year and will continue to distribute equipment aside from seeds to farmers in drought-identified areas in the region.
During the management committee meeting of the regional agriculture department in Feb. 12, 2024, DA-CAR Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) officer Crisante Rosario explained that based on the Pagasa climate outlook track, the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet and Kalinga have been forecast to experience drought conditions.
The drought started in January and is expected to affect the said provinces until April this year, while Ifugao and Mountain Province have been forecast to experience dry conditions that began in January and is seen to last until March of this year.
“Aside from the provinces identified by the Pagasa climate track that are and will experience drought and dry conditions, we are currently monitoring 21 municipalities in the six provinces that had been categorized as areas having a high-risk and very highrisk of drought,” said Rosario.
“DA-CAR has started the distribution of water pumps since last year while similar equipment will be delivered this month to other beneficiaries aside from seeds that will be distributed to farmers affected by the weather phenomenon,” added Rosario.
Based on the hazard indices of the Climate Risk Vulnerability Assessment report, five municipalities in Abra have been identified as high-risk areas for drought aside from three other municipalities categorized as having a very high risk for drought.
Apayao has three municipalities under high risk and two municipalities under very high risk, while Benguet has one municipality under high risk and one municipality under very high risk. Ifugao, likewise, has one municipality categorized as a moderate risk and two municipalities under very high risk, while Kalinga has a municipality under moderate risk with Tabuk City under very high risk. Paracelis in Mountain Province has been categorized under very high risk for drought.
The DA regional office said that rice and corn seeds amounting to P40.3 million have been prepositioned by the regional department to be distributed to farmers identified within the vulnerable areas in the region.
As of January this year, around 62,717.53 hectares of farmland that were earlier planted with rice, corn, and high-value crops are at risk of drought.
Forty percent or 25,267 hectares of which is categorized under newly planted to the vegetative stage, while 60 percent or 37,450 hectares has been listed under the reproduction or maturity stage.