Few farmers in the Davao Region have started to plant crops following the onset of rainy season as declared by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA) on Friday.
“In the provinces of Davao Region as well as in the municipalities, there are already farmers who started planting but not at the same time,” Department of Agriculture – Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DA-DRRM) 11 focal person Roy Jose Pascua told TIMES on Monday.
Pascua said although the agency already declared the start of the rainy season, they still haven’t lifted their El Niño advisory. From the geohazard advisory of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 11, it said the occurrence of dry spell may likely to continue during June-July-August Season.
“For our farmers, their planting is not synchronized. Others already started while some decides to delay their planting. Portions of Davao del Sur, maybe they will start (planting) on July because the (water) irrigation is also insufficient,” Pascua said. He also assured that the irrigation for the rest of the region is “okay.”
With extended dry spell, the Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) researchers have also reminded farmers in El Niño-affected provinces to practice proper water and farm management techniques.
From the recent data of DA-DRRM, there are already a total of 13,340 farmers in the region that were affected by El Niño. The total value of crop damage have also reached to P998.693 million.
