Cebu City Agriculture allots 10M to prepare farmlands for El Niño

A dried up rice field is shown in this DA-7 photo which happened in one of the past El Niño events in the country.  |Photo from DA-7 Facebook page

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu City Agriculture Office (CAO) has allotted P10 million for the purchase of water drums, hoses, and power sprayer to prepare the upland barangays and farmlands for the El Niño.

Apple Tribunalo, CAO head, said that the weak El Niño experienced in Cebu had begun to affect the farmlands in the city’s 28 upland barangays.

Read more: El Niño Phenomenon: MCWD starts water rationing in elevated barangays

According to the reports from the CAO field technicians, the water supply in the upland barangays had dwindled to 70 percent especially in the elevated areas.

“Moingon ta nga elevated areas kay ang ubang farmers miingon sila nga sa ubos naa pa silay makuhang tubig pero ang katong source duol sa ilang uma, wala na,” said Tribunalo.

She said that the water pumps would be needed to distribute the water from the lower areas of these barangays to the elevated areas.

The CAO already received reports that in certain sitios, the soil had begun to crack in the heat while rivers and streams have begun to dry up.

Read more: Palma to seek CBCP clearance to issue oratio imperata against El Niño

Tribunalo said that in response to these conditions, they would be distributing 1200 waters drums and 500 hoses to the affected barangays.

The CAO also purchased a power sprayer to help water the crops during the drought.

Tribunalo said that they had been continuously monitoring the effect of the El Niño in order to identify if a state of calamity would need to be declared in the following days.

Declaring a state of calamity would allow the CAO to tap at least P15 million to address the needs fo the farmers during the drought.

“If there’s a need to declare a state of calamity in the mountain barangays, we have to,” said Tribunalo.

Tribunalo said that the current harvests had not yet been affected by the El Niño but the next harvests might decrease especially if the El Niño would worsen.

She said that they were looking for alternative sources of water underground to help with the dwindling supply.

“Mao na kailangan tag pumps kay basin naa pa tay laing source sa tubig sa ilawom,” said Tribunalo.

Tribunalo encouraged the farmers to prepare for the worst and monitor their farmlands as the peak of the El Niño was drawing nearer in the summer./dbs