Flood-prone provinces may be delisted from rice priority areas

MANILA, Philippines -  The National Rice Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) may remove from the list of priority rice production areas all rice-producing areas that regularly suffer from flooding during bad weather. 

Agriculture assistant secretary and National Rice Program coordinator Dante Delima said the removal being considered to prevent wastage of government resources in repeated rehabilitation of farm infrastructure and provision of farm inputs in areas that are frequently flooded.

Among the areas considered for removal from the list of priority production areas are several provinces in Region 2 and 3. Among these are Pampanga, Bulacan and Tarlac.

Delima said that vulnerable areas in the country comprise 100,000 hectares. If these areas are removed from the priority production list, lost yield in these lands would be recovered in other performing provinces.

He said the possible removal has been discussed with Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala who advised Delima to continue studying the proposition.

“This happens every year and every year we rehabilitate. We lose money and resources which are already limited. So why continue like this?” he said.

The proposal would, of course, raise concerns on the possible loss of livelihood for farmers.

Delima explained, however, that the DA would not completely cut off support for the areas but would instead reduce the provision of farm infrastructure and inputs. At the same time, alternative livelihood would be sought for farmers who would be affected.

“Our strategy for this is minimal intervention. We will no longer concentrate on increasing production in these areas. If these areas produce, this is just a bonus but we will no longer depend on these areas for production,” said Delima. “This does not mean that these areas will no longer be cultivated.”

He said that instead of pouring in huge amounts of resources for farm inputs in vulnerable areas, the government would just increase the crop insurance coverage for the affected rice lands.

 “We should allocate more resources to areas that can produce higher yield,” he said.

Next month, the National Rice Program will intends to map out vulnerable areas using historical data on typhoon damage. Data from the last five years and last three years would be used as reference.

“Now we have to craft an appropriate intervention for them (farmers) so our funds will not be drained,” Delima said. “We will also look at their cropping calendar and see if it is possible to advise them to have only one cropping per year so the yield is secure.”

While the provision of alternative livelihood for farmers is being considered, Delima admitted that this is would be challenging considering that most of those who would be affected have no other skills aside from farming.

Delima said the new policy is still under discussion but should be seriously considered.

“We still have no final decision but I think this should be taken seriously,” he said.

If interventions are successfully installed this year, the new policy would be implemented next year.

“For this year, the goal is to identify the areas and to conduct consultation with affected areas because they have to have an input. It’s not just the DA,” he said.