Philippines earmarks over US$300 million El Nino mitigation

 

 

The Philippine agriculture department is allocating PHP1.7 billion (US$364.8 million) to ease the impact of the El Nino on this year's farm production.

 

Agriculture Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said the fund will be sourced from the department's 2010 budget and will finance the construction of small-scale irrigation facilities and cloud seeding operations.

 

These projects are expected to reduce the estimated PHP20.5 billion (US$440 million) in production losses that will be brought by a prolonged dryspell, Fondevilla said.

 

The department has set aside PHP613.7 million (US$13.1 million) for the corn sector, while the rest of the El Nino budget will go to the fisheries and commercial crops sectors.

 

Based on studies made by the department, Fondevilla said that the dry spell will affect a total of 453,204 hectares of land planted to rice, 227,843 hectares of corn areas and 14,160 hectares in the fisheries sector are vulnerable to El Nino.

 

The key farm areas in Northern and Central Luzon, and the provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga City, Sarangani and South Cotabato are among the most vulnerable to El Nino.