Officials: No shortage of grains in ARMM amid dry spell

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The dry spell that hit rice- and corn-producing areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) from February to May has not caused any shortage in supply of grains owing to the 60 percent increase in production during the two preceding cropping seasons.

Makmod Mending, Jr., ARMM’s agriculture secretary, said farmers in the region, in fact, have had sufficient supply surplus from their harvests prior to the dry spell.

He said farmers did not feel any long-term effect of the four-month drought.

“There was no shortage of rice and corn supplies in the region as a result of that drought,” Mending said.

Mending said the ARMM’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) prepared for the dry spell and had promptly carried out measures to mitigate its impact to local peasants.

"Credit should go to the farmers and DAF's field personnel for having cooperated well in implementing measures aimed at preventing any undue effect of the drought," Mending added.

Farmers in ARMM’s Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur provinces, which are both in Central Mindanao, have had bumper harvests in 2013 until February this year due to favorable climate and the absence of any hostility between Moro rebels and the military.

“Because there is tranquility, as a result of the Mindanao peace process, our farmers had toiled on their lands without any disruption. DAF technicians, as a consequence of the good security situation, were also able to roam freely in far-flung areas to assist farmers in their farming activities,” Mending said.

Kadiguia Rakman Abdullah, DAF’s chief information officer, said Moro farmers in remote areas have also been busy with the department's “gulayan sa barangay” projects, which aims to address lack of food in isolated farming enclaves.

Abdullah corroborated Mending’s assertion on the 60 percent increase in rice and corn production from the last quarter of 2013 to February this year, about five folds higher than the recorded production during the same period in the past two years.

“One reason for this feat is the unrestrained movement of our personnel involved in various DAF projects in remote areas due to improving peace and order,” Abdullah said.

Mending said farmers in highland areas in the autonomous region are now busy sowing rice and corn seeds.