Dry spell in Davao fields

The Davao City Agriculturist Office (CAO) revealed that some agricultural fields in the city may have been affected with the ongoing dry spell but the collected data does not warrant the declaration of state of calamity.

CAO head Leo Brina Leuterio said on Monday that cornfields in the districts of Toril, Calinan and Marilog have been slightly affected with the ongoing El Niño season.

Although he did not state exact figures of the damaged crop in these areas, Leuterio said that the dry spell did not entirely affect the agriculture sector in the city as compared to neighboring areas such as Davao del Sur and Bukidnon.

“Bisan pa ang atong data does not merit us to declare a state of calamity, the city government, together with the Department of Agriculture (DA), even ang Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) sa pagmonitor niining mga areas, and to give assistance that they needed (We don’t need to declare a state of calamity yet as the city government, DA and Bfar are monitoring these areas to give needed assistance),” Leuterio said after the flag-raising ceremony at the City Hall of Davao.

The agriculture officer said the city has already prepared 2,000 bags of yellow and white corn seedlings, paired with fertilizers to affected farmers.

“Even if dili pa sila katanom karon sa field tungod sa kainit, at least ready na sila to begin their planting by July, when the dry spell is projected to be over (The seedlings are ready for planting once the dry spell is over),” he said.

Leuterio said in a previous report that Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio requested his office to come up with a dry spell plan, despite the city being spared from the El Niño.

He is proposing around P25 million to P50 million budget for water supplies, including water pumps, containers, tanks, reservoir, among others.

Meanwhile, as of last week of March, the Department of Agriculture-Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DA-DRRM) revealed some P230.6 million worth of crops in Davao region were reported to have been destroyed due to the dry spell since November 2018.

Reports said that affected crops are rice, corn, cacao, coffee, banana, mango and vegetables, while Davao del Sur has been hit hardest, with some 6,301 hectares of farmland already affected.