Kay Olivas of the Department of Agriculture said the prolonged dry spell will affect the food production of the region, especially rice, corn, and vegetables.
“We have already laid our mitigation measures to ensure enough production in the region. Based on our assessment, we have a high sufficiency level for rice, corn, and vegetables. This means we are food secured in our region but what we are looking into is the supply that we usually export to other regions that are dependent on our productions,” Olivas said.
With this, the agriculture department is set to give seed subsidies, fertilizers, soil ameliorants, crop insurance, and water pumps and engines to the severely affected farmers.
Olivas also said they have started conducting cloud seeding in some parts of the region that are now experiencing drought.
Melvin Iringan of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources also said there are water conservation efforts that they are now conducting with the help of other agencies concerned with water security.
He also said they assist local government units in establishing water reservoirs and diversion of river water to irrigation canals to ensure enough water supply for agricultural plants.
“We are also conducting inventories of water resources and users in the region,” Iringan said.
On the part of the Department of Health, Richelle Naceno of the Cagayan Valley Center for Health Development said they have already prepositioned health emergency commodities to local government units ready to be used in case a disease outbreak caused by severe heat temperature and drought occurs.
