Villar encourages farmers to undergo training to cope with impact of El Niño
By AJ Siytangco
Published Apr 22, 2019 03:23 pm
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
Senator Cynthia Villar on Monday encouraged farmers to undergo training programs that will help them cope with the impact of El Niño.
Senator Cynthia Villar
(SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES / FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN) “Our farmers will have better chances of beating El Nino and the effects of climate change if they are educated on the actions to be taken in order to avoid agricultural losses,” Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, said. Villar said there were programs that teach farmers to be resilient in the face of a changing climate, such as the Climate-Smart Farm Business School being offered by the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and other farm schools nationwide. The Department of Agriculture recently reported that the damage to rice and corn crops due to the dry spell has reached P5.7 billion, exceeding the agency's forecast of P1.7 billion. Villar, meanwhile, urged local government units affected by El Niño to declare a state of calamity so that they could use the calamity fund to help farmers cope and recover from the damage. She said the government could also make use drought-tolerant seeds, cropping calendar adjustment, rainwater-harvesting system and cloud seeding to cushion the impact of the drought. “We need these critical interventions so that our farmers, who are among the most vulnerable groups in climate change, would be guided on what’s best to do in terms of managing their farms in the face of this global dilemma,” the reelectionist senator stressed. According to the DA, among the most affected areas by El Niño were the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Aurora, Quzon), MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblong Palawan), Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos), and BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao). Secretary Emmanuel Piñol was also quoted that the DA was ready to release around P2 billion for interventions and insurance.
Senator Cynthia Villar(SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES / FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN) “Our farmers will have better chances of beating El Nino and the effects of climate change if they are educated on the actions to be taken in order to avoid agricultural losses,” Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, said. Villar said there were programs that teach farmers to be resilient in the face of a changing climate, such as the Climate-Smart Farm Business School being offered by the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and other farm schools nationwide. The Department of Agriculture recently reported that the damage to rice and corn crops due to the dry spell has reached P5.7 billion, exceeding the agency's forecast of P1.7 billion. Villar, meanwhile, urged local government units affected by El Niño to declare a state of calamity so that they could use the calamity fund to help farmers cope and recover from the damage. She said the government could also make use drought-tolerant seeds, cropping calendar adjustment, rainwater-harvesting system and cloud seeding to cushion the impact of the drought. “We need these critical interventions so that our farmers, who are among the most vulnerable groups in climate change, would be guided on what’s best to do in terms of managing their farms in the face of this global dilemma,” the reelectionist senator stressed. According to the DA, among the most affected areas by El Niño were the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Aurora, Quzon), MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblong Palawan), Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos), and BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao). Secretary Emmanuel Piñol was also quoted that the DA was ready to release around P2 billion for interventions and insurance.