President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday assured Filipinos of a sufficient rice supply despite the impact of the El Niño dry spell on the agricultural sector. He said the country has enough rice reserves.

“Well, if we are talking about rice, we have enough supply. There is no need for people to worry. Those irrigated areas have increased their harvest,” Marcos said in an interview in Occidental Mindoro, which he visited to assess the crop damage due to the drought.

However, the President acknowledged the struggles faced in non-irrigated areas, noting that only about 50 percent of the agricultural lands benefit from irrigation. El Niño-related agricultural losses have reached P1.2 billion, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

Marcos maintained that only a minimal portion of the irrigated lands were affected, such as in Occidental Mindoro.

“We are speeding up the installation of solar pumps and also the dams planned by the National Irrigation Administration, so that we can expand our water supply and increase our irrigable land because as long as it’s irrigated, even with El Niño, it’s still possible,” Marcos said.

Further, the President highlighted the introduction of numerous post-harvest facilities designed to minimize logistical costs and boost farmers’ incomes.

“It’s still possible, and then we have given many, and we are bringing in many post-harvest facilities so that instead of milling the rice far away and transporting it to different places, we can do it here,” he said.

The NIA said three new long-arm backhoes and one wheel-type backhoe have been deployed to all impacted locations in the province that require emergency canal clearing and desilting operations as part of its support to El Niño-stricken regions.

Along with 68 solar, diesel and water-powered pumps to irrigate 274 hectares of farmlands, farmers impacted by the drought also received 1,200 liters of diesel fuel to help with the fuel requirements for the diesel-powered water pumps.