El Niño destroys crops worth P605M in BARMM

COTABATO CITY – The weak El Niño has destroyed more than P600 million worth of crops in two of five provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), agricultural officials said on Friday.

Citing an initial report from the BARMM El Niño Task Force, Dr. Mohammad Yacob, minister of BARMM Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (Mafar), said the amount could rise as reports from three other provinces of the region had yet to come.

As of March 26, Yacob said the data was only from the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, affecting 10,818 hectares of rice and 11,039 hectares for corn.

Of the total 21,857 hectares affected, Yacob said 11,050 hectares were considered totally damaged with practically no chances of recovery.

A total of 18,423 farmers have been affected in the two provinces. Affected in Lanao were 11,087 farmers while Maguindanao had 7,336 farmers affected.

Yacob said ahead of the weak El Niño, Mafar has started implementing mitigating measures to cushion the impact of the dry season.

The measures included planting of heat-resistant crop varieties, the use of pump irrigation system open source and shallow tube well.

Also included in the mitigating measures was the massive vaccination of livestock across the provinces.

Mafar was expected to receive reports on damages to agriculture from Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi soon./lzb