Quick turnaround rice planting up
The government has already reached out to over a million farmers for the implementation of water-saving technologies in nearly 15,000 hectares of rice farms.
Farmers in North Cotabato plant vegetables instead of rice as the dry season has arrived in parts of Mindanao. In its recent advice, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration cautioned the public that a strong El Niño is expected to endure until February, while global climate models forecast it would continue until May.
Dianne Bacelonia
Amid the El Niño dry spell, Filipino farmers were assured over the weekend of stable rice output through the use of technology that would allow them to use less water in their fields.
The Department of Agriculture, through Assistant Secretary for Operations U-Nichols Manalo, said farming strategies like alternate wetting and drying, or AWD, would result in a quicker turnaround as immediate replanting becomes possible right after harvest.
“AWD is a water-saving technology that rice farmers can apply to reduce their water use in irrigated fields,” said Manalo in a Task Force El Niño meeting.
“On the other hand, QTA is a strategy wherein all rice farms, after harvest, shall replant immediately without waiting for the months of the succeeding planting season to begin.”
Based on the DA’s latest record, the government has already reached out to over a million farmers for the implementation of water-saving technologies in nearly 15,000 hectares of rice farms.
The overall target for the program is 26,000 hectares, according to the DA official. Manalo said some farmers have already started replanting over 5,500 hectares of rice.
“The DA immediately implemented these measures in compliance with President Marcos’ Executive Order 53 which directs the government to streamline, reactivate, and reconstitute the old El Niño task forces under EO 16 (s. 2001) and Memorandum Order 38 (s. 2019).”
“Signed on 19 January 2024, President Marcos’ Executive Order directs the task force to develop a comprehensive disaster preparedness and rehabilitation plan for El Niño and La Niña to provide ‘systematic, holistic, and results-driven interventions” to help the public cope and minimize their devastating effects.’”
Last month, the National Irrigation Authority said that a whole-of-government approach was taken to ensure the formulation of efficient mitigating measures for El Niño.
NIA Administrator, Engr. Eduardo Guillen, said that as early as October 2023, local and national agencies had already begun close coordination and crafting interventions for the weather phenomenon,
The NIA’s funds had been doubled this year, said Guillen, which will be used for the establishment of solar pump irrigation and additional dams, among others.