DA Press Office
April 23,2010


D.A. Allocates P400-M for Shallow Tube Wells in El Nino-Hit Areas


The Department of Agriculture (DA) has allocated P400 million for the installation of shallow tube wells in El Nino-hit farming communities as part of its ongoing efforts to help small farmers offset production losses due to the prolonged dry spell.

Undersecretary Joel Rudinas reported to DA Secretary Bernie Fondevilla that the Department has already used P120 million of this amount to procure water pumps and has required approval from DBM to realign another P300 million for shallow tube well projects.

Each water pump, Rudinas said, could cost from P8,000 to P80,000 depending on the horsepower and brand of the pumps needed.

Moreover, the cost of installing water pumps for shallow tube wells will depend on whether a community will rely on self-running engines or electricity to power them, he said.

He said the Department has also been distributing farm inputs such as seeds, especially to the affected palay and corn farmers in El Niño-hit towns who want to temporarily shift to vegetable or fruit crops.

“Water in El Niño-stricken communities may be scarce, but you can tap big rivers and streams or dig to pump and draw out water from underground. That’s why the provision of pumps and engine sets is one of our priority projects to help our farmers cope with the dry spell,” Rudinas said.

The DA has realigned its budget this year for a series of El Niño mitigation measures in the agriculture and fisheries sector.

El Niño refers to the unusual warming of sea surface temperatures along the equatorial Pacific that is usually characterized by below-average rainfall.

The array of El Niño mitigation measures include cloud seeding operations in watershed areas; construction of shallow tube wells; provision of fishcages, vegetable seeds, fruit flower inducers and microbial fertilizers; building small scale irrigation facilities; and livelihood assistance.

As early as December last year, the DA had already created a task force to carry out its five-point program to raise crop production along with farmers’ incomes in the face of a then-looming El Niño attack that is expected to last till mid-2010.

The task force is focusing its mitigation programs on 23 “highly vulnerable” areas and 24 “moderately vulnerable” areas in the country. .


Source:http://www.da.gov.ph/newindex2.php?pass=News_events/2010/apr/apr23_2010a.html