Toril, Paquibato and Marilog have the most agricultural damages due to the onslaught of the on-going dry spell, based on the record of the City Agriculturist Office (CAO) as of March.
The agency reported that Marilog District had the highest number of affected farmers at 1,758, followed by Paquibato and Toril, with 1,382 and 871, respectively.
The report added that about 1,200 hectares of farms in Paquibato and Marilog and about 669 hectares in Marilog were affected.
However, Leo Brian Leuterio, CAO officer-in-charge, said the report was not enough to place the city under the state of calamity.
“It must take 20% of the population to be affected in terms of agriculture to declare a calamity and no barangay has declared calamity so far, and it would take 20 to 30% of the total barangay to be affected to declare a state of calamity city-wide,” Leuterio told TIMES on Friday.
Out of 182 barangays of the city, there were only 13 that submitted dry spell incident reports to CAO with Daliaoan and Marilog Proper reporting that about 5% of their farmers were affected.
The CAO will submit next month to Mayor Sara Duterte a P25 million budget proposal for additional water supply systems for irrigation and water pumps for the three districts.
“The principle is when we already identify the areas that are most affected, that is where we focus our assistance that is why the reports are specific to the districts,” he said.
