QUEZON CITY ( PIA) — Changing the cropping calendar could be a game-changer in government efforts for the country to recover from crop losses this year due to a series of extreme weather events, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Friday, Nov. 8.
In an interview on PTV 4’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon, Assistant Secretary Arnel De Mesa said that the country has been hit by extreme weather events that have caused 800 million metric tons in rice production loss since January this year.
“This third quarter, our rice production has dropped by 3.7 percent due to the series of extreme weather events – the long dry spell of El Niño starting January, followed the La Niña phenomenon characterized by strong and frequent cyclones, peaking this third quarter with 13 cyclones hitting the country so far,” De Mesa said.
He said that the government is determined to recoup the agricultural losses and help farmers through giving them assistance ang farm implements and machineries, and most especially the irrigation.
To this end, DA’s joint effort with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and collaboration with other related government agencies is vital in changing the cropping calendar.
He said that farmers can plant during the dry season if there is enough water from our irrigation system, and during the wet season it can serve as a flood-control infrastructure.
He noted that destructive cyclones usually occur in the third quarter.
“So, it is better that farmers could plant early and harvest early before the peak cyclone season arrives,” he pointed out.
Thus, the role of NIA is vital in ensuring that water for irrigation is available for the farmers to plant early.
Pressed about the time to start the new cropping calendar, he said, “actually, we have already started it and 25 percent of farmlands have been covered.”
Full coverage is being desired, but this also requires a change in the culture and farming practices of farmers, he said.
But the DA is determined in pursuing the program, he added. (PIA DMD)
