By Manny Piñol
Lala, Lanao del Norte Jan. 4 – Two weeks after Typhoon Vinta ravaged the farm lands in Lanao del Norte’s Kapatagan Valley, agriculture stakeholders who were affected received the first tranche of insurance payments from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) and emergency loans from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), both agencies under the Department of Agriculture on Thursday, Jan. 4.
Rice and corn seeds which were brought in by vessels of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources from Luzon during the holidays, along with those sourced locally, were also distributed to farmers affected by the typhoon.
During a Byaheng Bukid forum which started at 3:30 p.m. and ended at 6 p.m., local officials led by Gov. Imelda Dimaporo and her husband, Cong. Abdullah Dimaporo, Mayors, local officials and agriculture stakeholders, said they could not believe that government could act so fast to respond to the needs of the farmers so they could recover immediately.
Crop Insurance payments which took between two to three months in the past before these were released, if at all, are now turned over to affected stakeholders within two weeks after the calamities.
A P10-M Emergency No-Collateral-No-Interest loan fund was also released to a local conduit bank, the MCC Bank, to cover the first 2,000 affected agriculture stakeholders who will receive P5,000 each.
During the open forum, other concerns like the rehabilitation of irrigation canals, repair of damaged bridges and other infrastructure facilities were also raised but since these are not covered by the mandate of the Department of Agriculture, these will be endorsed to the proper agencies.
The forum was scheduled to start at 1 p.m. but a delay in the flight by helicopter from Kidapawan City to Ditsaan-Ramain by the lakeside in Lanao del Sur, resulted in the delay.
The Biyaheng Bukid team also had to travel for over 2 hours from Ditsaan-Ramain because bad weather conditions prevented the use of the helicopter.
The most serious concern which I took up with the local leaders was the massive landslides and soil erosion during the typhoon.
I told local leaders and this was an indication that the agricultural planning of Lanao del Norte and other provinces which suffered from the same problems during typhoons should be reviewed.
During the meeting, I proposed to Gov. Dimaporo a planning workshop to review the agricultural practices in the provinces to ensure that the right crops are planted in sloping and graded areas to prevent soil erosion and landslides.
I will discuss this thoroughly in my future posts.
(Photos of the Lanao del Norte activity taken by Alan Jay Jacalan, DA-RAFID.)
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