The Department of Agriculture in the Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) has given vegetable seeds to households and farmers in Banaue, Ifugao whose plants were damaged by the flash flood that hit the town last week.
“The President’s instruction to the DA is to assure that the production of food will not decrease to assure sufficiency,” said Cameron Odsey, regional director of the DA-CAR, in an interview on Thursday.
He said the seeds, worth PHP340,680 and composed of cabbage, bell pepper, and tomatoes, are compatible with the weather and temperature in Banaue.
Based on the initial assessment provided to their office, a total of 168 hectares of vegetable gardens and rice plantation areas were partially damaged, while 1,451 hectares were totally damaged by the flash flood. The total damage was estimated at PHP16,687,790.
DA records show that the CAR trades about two million kilograms of assorted vegetables everyday which are produced mostly in Benguet and transported to the different parts of the country.
He said that based on the computation of the DA, plants are classified as partially damaged when the plants are still seedlings or small and are not due to be harvested in several weeks, while those totally damaged are the ones ready to be harvested and sold.
The flash flood affected at least 768 farmers who plant rice, corn, and high-value crops or vegetables, and maintain livestock and poultry farms.
“Our team is still in Banaue doing a validation and assessment to get more information about the needs of the people that the DA can provide,” he said.
The initial batch of distributed seeds came from buffer stocks of the DA.
Odsey said the DA is also looking for other ways to assist the farmers given that high-breed and inbred rice seeds are not compatible with conditions in Banaue due to the high elevation of the town.
“They grow heirloom rice where the planting materials are only available to the residents as such is specific to them,” Odsey said.
Ifugao rice farmers, especially those from Banaue, grow the Tinawon variety that is locally consumed.
“Tinawon” is a local term that means "annual" as the rice variety requires at least 10 months before it could be harvested and is among those classified as specialty rice grown only in Ifugao.
Source: Philippines News Agency
