LEGAZPI CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA) will endorse the validated list of farmers, numbering over 9,000, who are affected by the dry spell in Bicol to different government social services for additional interventions.
In an interview on Thursday, Lovella Guarin, DA-Bicol spokesperson, said they would submit the list to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the planning and programming of assistance.
"The assistance will help our affected farmers to support their financial needs. We are coordinating with the two agencies for our farmers to be given assistance under the DSWD's Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program and be included in the DOLE's Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/ Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program," Guarin said.
She said DA-Bicol also allocated seeds such as certified and hybrid rice seeds, hybrid yellow corn and lowland vegetable seeds, from buffer stocks to affected towns.
"All available resources amount to about PHP22 million," she said.
She said they continuously monitor the 201 confirmed operational small-scale irrigation projects in the region.
Based on the DA-Bicol report, there are 9,283 farmers affected by drought from five towns in Albay; two in Camarines Sur; seven in Masbate, and one in Sorsogon.
A total of 8,222 hectares have been affected resulting in the production volume loss of 13,507 metric tons with a direct economic impact of PHP352.97 million.
In January, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order (EO) No. 53 to streamline, reactivate, and reconstitute the old El Niño task forces under EO No. 16 (s. 2001) and Memorandum Order No. 38 (s. 2019).
Under EO No. 53, the President instructed the task force to secure a comprehensive disaster preparedness and rehabilitation plan and ensure “systematic, holistic, and results-driven interventions” to aid the Filipinos and alleviate the devastating effects of disasters. (PNA)
