Govt to dredge rivers, plant more trees in disaster-prone areas

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it would dredge rivers and intensify tree planting in disaster-prone areas to prevent landslides and f loods caused by the loosening of soil.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the DA would promote the planting of fruit-bearing trees, such as cacao and coffee, in undulating and sloping areas of the country.

These two activities, Piñol said, would “address serious environmental problems affecting agriculture and fisheries,” which include landslides, soil erosion and flooding in agricultural production areas.

“The shift of focus to these two farming activities was prompted by the spate of landslides and flooding which was observed during the last few years,” he said in a Facebook post on Monday.

Piñol said no less than President Duterte, who visited floodhit Bicol regionl last week, took note of the increasing number of landslides in the past years.

“He said he observed the ‘loosening of the soil,’ which resulted in landslides during typhoons and storms,” he said. “President Duterte is right. The cutting down of trees and the clearing of mountains to give way to settlements have contributed to the loosening of the soil.

Piñol said flooding in the agricultural valleys of Cagayan Valley, Pampanga, Bulacan Basins, Bicol River Basin, Agusan River Basin, Rio Grande de Mindanao River Basin have caused annual damage to the farm sector.

To address the issues, the DA will undertake the immediate dredging of the major rivers nationwide, including Cagayan River, Pampanga River and Bicol River, among others, he said.

“Dredging these rivers would end the water backflows and flooding during the typhoon and rainy season, and open hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile areas to agriculture,” he said.

“The dredged silt from these rivers, presumably peat soil, could be used in reinvigorating the fertility of the farmlands near the river basins,” Piñol added.

He noted that the dredging of major rivers would be expensive for the government and is also a “daunting task.” Piñol said, however, that it is the immediate remedy to minimize the flooding and the destruction of crops during the typhoon season.

The DA would also embark on a long-term tree farming project in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and local government units (LGUs).

“The LGUs will also have to be engaged in implementing the new policy of the DA to discourage the use of weed killers in sloping and undulating areas where farmers plant corn and other cash crops,” he said.

“The benefits from the planting of trees, especially fruit-bearing trees, in the undulating and sloping agricultural areas may not be felt immediately but this is something which must be done today for the benefit of the next generation,” Piñol added. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas