Government of Maribojoc: Travel, Business and News

by Jemin B. Guillermo

More than 14,000 Capiceño farmers are already affected by the prolonged drought brought about by the El Niño phenomenon.

Report from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics in the province showed that as of March 8, a total of 14,563 palay and corn farmers in Capiz are already affected by the dry spell because their plantation have been damaged by said phenomenon.

According to BAS Provincial Manager Eric Piansay, the drought has already affected 10,278 hectares of palay plantation, of which 3,986 hectares are totally damaged while the remaining 6,292 hectares are partially damaged.

Piansay said that the palay crop which is damaged by the long drought are on its vegetative and reproductive stages already.

He revealed that the value of the damaged palay plantation, which includes the cost of farm inputs, is estimated at more than P33.55 million.

He added that the expected harvest for the crops which is at its reproductive stage is estimated at 1,333.01 metric tons or equivalent to nearly P20 million.

On the other hand, Piansay disclosed that some 2,183 hectares of corn plantation in Capiz are also affected by the El Niño phenomenon.

Of the total affected plantation, 940 hectares of which are totally damaged and the remaining 1,243 hectares are partially damaged.

Farmers in Mindanao are now told to protect trees rather than just fruits.

With the long dry spell expected to last until June this year, Mindanao Fruit Council officer Larry Miculob warned fruit farmers to worry more on the fruit trees rather than the quantity of fruit production.

The official got common complaints from various members of the council, most are small fruit growers, that trees are getting too much heat and that they may no longer bear fruits after this harvest season.

“Karamihan sa mga durian fruit natin ngayon ay may makunat na balat. Ibig sabihin nito ay natutuyo na ang kahoy. Ito ang dapat nating iwasan.” (Currently much of our durian fruit have tough skin, it means the trees are drying up, this we should prevent) said Miculob.

A study revealed that prolonged rainless spells and high temperatures place severe stress on trees. Add to that disturbances to the unseen root system through various construction and other human activities, and you have trees declining or dying.

The official explained that trees exhale moisture from their leaves in a process called transpiration. As temperatures climb, transpiration kicks into overdrive. During a drought, there isn’t enough water in the soil to replenish the water lost. When this happens, trees adopt survival strategies that can stress and weaken them.

This worries most fruit farmers in Mindanao especially if rain won’t come on mid-April.

This time, the region and most parts of Mindanao get full production of fruits even if March and April are usually off peak seasons for fruit harvests.

“But because of the long dry spell we experienced last September 2009, most of our trees are stressed and they produced fruits on months unexpected by most farmers,” Miculob added.

The fruit council hopes for rainwater to pour starting next month, otherwise, Davao City would definitely experience a fruitless Kadayawan Festival. This festival is supposed to be a celebration of a bountiful fruit and flower harvest.