This item is not related to law and justice per se, which are the main focus and theme of my blog, but my conscience urges me, as a concerned Filipino, to help spread hereinbelow the thoughts contained in a recent editorial of the Philippine Daily Inquirer on the matter of the massive drought that now wreaks great agricultural havoc in the Philippines to the tune of billions of pesos, thus, further aggravating the poverty, hunger and hopelessness of the Filipinos in the rebellion and disease-infested rural areas of the country.
Editorial
Droughts
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:35:00 02/19/2010
AFTER THE DEVASTATING FLOODS OF SEPTEMBER and October last year, the nation now faces a severe drought. A recent Inquirer story said it all: “El Niño drying up farms. From North to South, farmers try to survive.”
As of the latest count, at least 11 provinces have been severely hit by the weather phenomenon that is being blamed for the blistering dry spell that has hit Asia and Australia and the intense blizzards in the United States. Water reservoirs are drying up and farmlands have cracked with the onslaught of El Niño. In Pangasinan, irrigation water is already being “rationed,” and downstream farmers have held back transplanting their seedlings because no water is getting to their rice fields. Thousands of hectares of farm lands may be wasted for at least one rice planting season, including 1,750 in Ilocos Norte, 1,200 in Bulacan, 1,061 hectares in Camarines Sur, and 13,000 to 42,000 hectares in the Western Visayas region, according to the latest reports. Isabela is reported to have lost at least P1.6 billion worth of rice and corn crops. Total damage to crops has been estimated to top P3 billion this year.
There is more. Power supply could turn from low to critical, especially in Mindanao where water levels in hydroelectric facilities are receding fast. Operators of the Magat Dam, which supplies irrigation water to about 85,000 hectares of rice farms in the Cagayan River basin in Norther Luzon, have warned that if the water level drops down to 160 meters, the 350-megawatt hydroelectric plant will have to be shut down temporarily. (As of yesterday morning, the dam’s water level was just a little over 162 meters from 165 meters five days ago.)
The impact of droughts may not be as immediate as that of typhoons, floods and mudslides; there have been no evacuation or rescue operations yet of drought victims. But they can be as devastating. In fact, their impact could be more insidious, precisely because they do not command the same sense of urgency as the other natural calamities which drive people to run for their lives, quite literally. The many effects of a drought may not be felt immediately but they are bound to be long-lasting.
This is why measures, both short and long-term, should be put in place to mitigate the effects of droughts, which are likely to occur with increasing frequency in the years ahead because of global warming.
Right off, we can conserve water. The government has been trying, if ever so feebly and ineffectively, to promote “water consciousness.” It doesn’t take too much imagination to come up with water-saving measures in our own households and communities. Using a glass when brushing one’s teeth can save gallons of water a day, for example. Using bath water to flush the toilet will save even more.
Impounding rainwater during the rainy season, either as a community project or one own’s initiative, will also help ease the tight water supply in the coming years. But for the long term, the government and the private sector will have to find ways of cutting down drastically the use of water for agriculture. There are enough technologies that allow farmers to grow plants with minimal use of water. Some of these technologies enabled Israel to turn deserts into farms that produce various agricultural products for exports.
Pagasa has proposed the development of drought-resistant and submergence-tolerant rice varieties. It has also proposed the adoption of “localized/drip irrigation,” by which water is applied directly to each plant. These are but two of the 10 “adaptation strategies” the agency suggested, in a 2009 presentation, to mitigate the drought impacts. Our policymakers should start thinking how the government can carry out these proposals.
Last Thursday, President Macapagal-Arroyo, in response to the worsening crisis, issued Administrative Order 278 directing the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the Philippine National Police to curb water pilferage in Metro Manila; the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to ensure the optimum use of water resources and rationalize water allocation and releases to the MWSS and National Irrigation Authority; and the Department of Agriculture to stop or schedule land-soaking activities of the Angat-Maasim River Irrigation System to make full use of available water for irrigation.
All this tells us that there are so many things that we can do immediately to cushion the ill-effects of droughts. And that there could be no justification if, in the next dry spell, we find ourselves still starting from scratch.
See:
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view/20100219-254225/Droughts
See also:
Crop damage from El Niño to exceed P10B
By Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:59:00 02/21/2010
MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Agriculture estimates that farm production losses this year due to the El Niño dry spell may fall in the middle of its earlier forecast of between P8 billion and P20 billion.
Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas told reporters that agricultural damage would go beyond P10 billion if the current dry spell do not end by next month.
However, he said it was “unlikely” that farm output losses would reach P20 billion.
“We are still in February and the damage is already way over P2 billion, so it depends on how the weather will develop, but we may go beyond P10 billion. That’s alarming, any amount of damage is alarming, but that’s within our expectation,”
Rudinas said.
As of Feb. 16, crop damage due to the El Niño weather phenomenon has more than doubled to P2.84 billion from the previous week’s estimate, according to government documents.
For the Feb. 8 estimate, damage to palay, corn and high value crops such as vegetables and fruits was placed at P1.4 billion.
Early this month, the agriculture agency said that mild El Niño conditions might wipe out P8.09 billion worth of agricultural production and severe conditions could bring this up to P20.46 billion.
The National Food Authority (NFA) has already assured the public that the country had enough rice stocks for local consumption. However, the grains agency also said that it was “ready to import more if necessary,” said NFA spokesperson Rex Estoperez.
Imports are already set to reach 2.48 million tons, breaching the record 2.4 million tons in 2008, when rice prices peaked at $1,080 a ton.
Rudinas said the agriculture department and its attached agencies would use their regular budgets totaling about P15 billion to minimize production losses especially for areas not reached by irrigation.
He said the establishment of shallow tube wells, the lending of irrigation pumps and irrigation repair work should provide some relief to farmers.
The government, which will implement an El Niño mitigation program, has initially looked at 24 “highly vulnerable” areas and 23 “moderately vulnerable” areas in the country based on reports from the weather bureau.
The highly vulnerable areas are Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Cavite, Rizal, Occidental Mindoro, Palawan, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga City, Sarangani and South Cotabato.
Areas considered as moderately vulnerable to the El Niño phenomenon are Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Mt. Province, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Romblon, Sorsogon, Aklan, Antique, Bohol, Samar, Zamboanga Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga Sur, Bukidnon, Davao Oriental, Davao Sur and Davao City.
See:
http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20100221-254560/Crop-damage-from-El-Nio-to-exceed-P10B
