El Niño damage in Zamboanga City now at P14 million

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - The dry spell brought by the El Niño phenomenon continued to ravage vast tracts of agricultural crops and livestock in Zamboanga City.

City Agriculturist Diosdado Palacat said the affected areas have been expanding with the latest figure at more than 750 hectares with damage at an estimated value of P14 million.

Palacat said damaged crops include vast tracts of rice and corn fields and other types of vegetables. Most of the agricultural crops have very low chance of recovery in the extreme hot weather.

The city government, however, assured that the food supply in the city has not depleted despite the onslaught of the dry spell.

City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer Dr. Elmeir Apolinario said that aside from the local agricultural supplies, provisions are still coming in from other nearby regions.

“But mitigating measures are being adopted as we don’t want to wait supplies will be depleted due to the dry spell,” Apolinario said.

The city has earlier declared a state of calamity to help mitigate the impact of the drought.

Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said with the early declaration, the city will be conducting the cloud seeding operations to help the affected farmers in the city.

Salazar also appealed to farmers in the upland areas to avoid from engaging in slash-and-burn farming or making bonfires to prevent cases of bush fire.