MisOr agri office to start giving seeds

AN OFFICIAL of the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) of Misamis Oriental yesterday said the capitol will begin distributing seeds to around 5,000 farmers affected by the dry spell, after the province experienced rains for several occasions recently.

PAO head Jose Apollo Pacamalan said seeds for corn, rice, vegetables and other crops have been pre-positioned and ready for distribution in towns affected by the El Nino.

“Nag-change nami karon og priority kay ulan-ulan naman since last week so ato karon is prepositioning sa mga binhi dayon land preparation ug pag-identify aha ang area nga sugod na ang ulan like sa Claveria tulo na ka adlaw ang ulanulan,” Pacamalan said.

(We have changed our priority now since rainy

season is coming back since last week, so we are now prepositioning our seeds, and then to the land preparation, and identify them what area the rain will begin its landfall; like in Claveria where it rained for three days)

He said that most of the seeds come from the Department of Agriculture, but the provincial government also has its buffer stocks as well.

Pacamalan said before the recent downpours, a total of 1,200 hectares of corn were

affected by the dry spell in the entire province. Badly hit was Claveria town.

Other affected municipalities were Tagoloan, Villanueva, Balingasag, Opol, Laguindingan, Alubjid, Libertad, Gitagum down to Lugait.

Pacamalan said the damage of El Nino on all crops in the province reached to P40-P60 million.

He said only Tagoloan was able to declare a state of calamity after the damage reached to P27 million.

“Ang Tagoloan lang ang naka-declare og state of calamity kay ang uban naapsan na siguro

sa election and karon basin dili na priority kay sugod naman sad ang ulan,” Pacamalan said.

(Tagoloan is the only municipality to be declared under state of calamity, because the others might have caught up with the election season, and maybe now it’s no longer their priority because the rainy season has arrived)

Pacamalan added the state weather bureau said the onset of rainy season is middle of June but farmers in the province believed that the recent downpours are signal that rains season is about to start.