DRIED UP. Part of a rice field in Barangay Centrala, Surallah, South Cotabato, suffers the brunt of the El Niño phenomenon, prompting the town's Sangguniang Bayan to declare a state of calamity in the town on Tuesday (April 16, 2024). Nine of 17 villages in Surallah have earlier declared a state of calamity after the dry spell damaged crops. (Photo courtesy of MDRRMC-Surallah)
KORONADAL CITY – Officials of South Cotabato's town of Surallah placed their area under a state of calamity due to the El Niño phenomenon that heavily affected the agriculture sector, damaging over PHP71 million worth of crops.
Surallah Mayor Pedro Matinong Jr. said in an interview Wednesday that nine of the town's 17 barangays have sustained heavy losses in agriculture and livestock so far.
The severely affected villages include Buenavista, Canahay, Centrala, Dajay, Duengas, Lamian, Little Baguio, Talahik, and Upper Sepaka.
Data from the Surallah municipal agriculture office showed that 1,178 farmers were affected, and nearly 1,000 hectares of agriculture and inland water fishery areas were damaged.
On Tuesday, the Sangguniang Bayan approved the resolution declaring the entire town a state of calamity, as recommended by the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC).
Matinong said the town legislative action was meant to allow the local government unit to use its calamity fund to cushion the impact of the dry spell on the agriculture sector.
Aside from the agriculture sector, the water sources for crops have been slowly drying up due to the dry season that started in January, he added.
MDRRMO Leonardo Ballon said rice fields have been drying up due to a lack of irrigation water supply, forcing nine villages to declare calamity on their level earlier.
South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo has vowed to extend intervention to affected farmers, saying the provincial government anticipated such situation would come due to the dry spell.
"We have seeds and fertilizers ready for affected farmers and other interventions," he said.
Meanwhile, two towns in Maguindanao del Sur have also recently declared a state of calamity due to the effects of the dry spell.
The town councils of Paglat and Datu Piang, both in Maguindanao del Sur, have declared a state of calamity in their respective areas to allow the use of calamity funds to cushion the impact of the weather phenomenon.
Initial reports said crop damage in Paglat has reached over PHP10 million, impacting about 900 farmers. (PNA)
