P670-M agri crops in North Cotabato lost to El Niño

COTABATO CITY: Drought resulting from El Niño has damaged P670 million worth of agricultural crops in North Cotabato, prompting local officials to place the entire province under a state of calamity.

North Cotabato Vice Gov. Shirlyn Macasarte, also the presiding officer of the provincial board, on Sunday said the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) passed a resolution for the purpose covering the 17 towns and one city of the province.

Macasarte added that they acted accordingly based on a recommendation of the North Cotabato provincial disaster risk reduction and management council.

Aside from the damage to agricultural products, frequent forest fires and rising cases of dengue and measles in the province were also looked into by the provincial board.

Remedios Hernandez, acting provincial agriculturist, said more than P362 million worth of rice and P269 million in corn were lost because of little rainfall in the past three months.

North Cotabato’s high-value crops also suffered more than P38 million in losses, she added.

Hernandez said the heavily affected towns are Alamada, Pigcawayan, Aleosan, Carmen, Kabacan, Libungan, Matalam, Mlang, Pikit and Antipas.

These areas have not experienced heavy rainfall since January 1, she added.

Part of the calamity fund budget of North Cotabato will be used for cloud seeding.

Hernandez said about 13,000 farmers were affected when their crops that were ready for harvesting dried up beyond recovery.

The North Cotabato Agricultural Office is validating reports of work animals dying from extreme heat.

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