INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday said that it is focusing its resources and programs on rice production and supply to minimize the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
“Sa ngayon, ‘pag El Niño ang pinag-uusapan ang focus really is on rice, kasi ayaw natin matamaan ang rice dahil we are a rice-eating country,” said DA spokesperson Kristine Evangelista in PTV’s Laging Handa public briefing.
(Right now, when we talk about El Niño, the focus really is on rice because we don’t want rice to be affected since we are a nation of rice consumers.)
“So all resources and all programs of the DA including irrigation, farm clustering and digitalization ‘yan po ay (those are) being put in place as our response to the El Niño threat,” she added.
Evangelista said the DA is already working with the National Irrigation Administration to improve the irrigation systems of various farmers, especially in areas that will likely bear the full brunt of the said phenomenon.
The DA is also continuously assessing which areas would be less affected by the said weather phenomenon in order to maintain production and compensate for the expected loss in affected areas.
It can be recalled that the DA previously assured the public that the country has sufficient rice supply despite rising rice prices.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration recently projected that El Niño would begin between June and August 2023 and would persist until 2024.