NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
The province of Bohol has already been felt the effects of El Niño to agriculture which directly affects the livelihood of the agri-fishery sector.
Based on the El Niño Partial Damage Report on Agri-Fishery obtained by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) from the Municipal Agriculture Offices (MAOs) of the seven towns of Bohol wherein as of Friday the damages would reach to P29.8M of which the P15,503,369 was came from the town of Sierra-Bullones, San Miguel (P5,416,260), Bien Unido (P4,073,174), Trinidad (P2,742,446), Catigbian (P1,476,334), Sevilla (P477,000) and President Carlos P. Garcia which had P150,480 reports damages.
Most of the damages were rice planted in the rainfed areas and corn commodities wherein the larger damage reported is from the 3rd District particularly on rice commodity as the OPA urged the Municipal Agriculturists/ Municipal Agricultural Offices (MAs/MAOs) and Municipal Technicians to report immediately to the OPA whatever damages reported on crops in their respective localities.
The Provincial Agriculturist Liza M. Quirog said that the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh) through the OPA is now awaiting the fund from the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) worth P5M to be downloaded to the PGBh so as the provincial government could fast tract in the process for the conduct of Cloud Seeding Operations (CSOs).
Quirog disclosed that with the P5M from DA and the standby fund worth P2.5M from the 70% preparedness fund of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (PDRRM), there are about closed to 100 flights of CSOs can be conducted to replenish the water in the dams in Bohol.
To date, the water levels of Malinao Dan in Pilar and Talibon Dam in Zamora, Talibon have not yet reached to critical level, while the Bayongan Dam in San Miguel and the Capayas Dam in Ubay are now in the critical levels.
But if the dry condition would continue, the coming planting season eventually will be affected, the Provicincial Agriculturist concluded.
Quirog said that it is expected that the El Niño damage report would escalate after the Municipal Agriculturists/Municipal Agricultural Officers (MAs/MAOs) could completely assess all commodities and not only rice in their respective localities.
The Provincial Agriculturist stressed that the PGBh has allocated the amount of P25.5M for irrigation materials in support to El Niño response such as: 402 water pumps; 4,500 plastic drums; and 2, 809 rolls PE Hose of which the component per set is 1 water pump, 11 plastic drums and 6 rolls of PE hose.
Quirog explained that the beneficiaries of these irrigation materials are those associations or farmers cooperatives who have submitted their Letter of Intents (LOIs) and approved by the governor. (Atoy Cosap)