The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas region said it has a buffer stock of certified rice seeds and fertilizers on standby to assist Antique farmers who may be affected by the El Niño phenomenon which was forecast to hit the country by the first quarter of 2024.
Sonie Guanco, head of the Agriculture Program Coordinating Office in Antique, disclosed that an initial inventory of 1,200 bags of certified rice seeds and 400 bags of Urea fertilizer are stocked at the warehouse of the Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPA) in Barangay Badiang, San Jose de Buenavista ready for distribution and planting in the next cropping season.
“We had turned over the buffer stock to the OPA so it could be easily distributed through the Municipal Agriculture Officers (MAOs) to the farmers,” Guanco said.
Farmers tilling at least one hectare of rice land is qualified to have a bag of free seeds and another bag of fertilizer, he added.
Apart from the DA assistance, Guanco said the local government units have their respective El Niño phenomenon mitigating plans and support for the farmers.
“Although we are still waiting for damage reports from the MAOs, we have been informed by some farmers that there is now a lack of water on their farmlands as an effect of the El Niño phenomenon,” he said.
Guanco also said that during the El Niño, the farmers could plant common crops that are drought-tolerant, such as camote and vegetables, especially in rain-fed areas.
