The prevailing El Niño already incurred losses of more than P5 billion to Philippine agriculture as of this month, leaving the government completely helpless and highly challenged in terms of trying to bring more growth to the sector. A data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) showed that as of this month, the damage caused by El Niño to the agriculture sector have already reached P5.32 billion since February last year. Of the P5.32 billion, around P1.9 billion worth of damage were recorded over the last two months. “A total of 237 thousand hectares of agriculture areas with an estimated production loss of 358.8 thousand metric tons have already been affected,” DA official Christopher Morales said in a memorandum for the secretary. The affected commodities are rice, corn, high value crops, and livestock. Among these, rice was one of the most affected crops with P2.38 billion worth of losses, next to corn, which suffered losses of as much as P2.9 billion. As part of the actions and interventions taken by the DA, the Regional Field Office (RFO) of DA already distributed and provided 3,059 bags of hybrid rice seeds, 24,066 bags of rice certified seeds, 150 bags of soil ameliorants (biozome), 166 units of crop insurance and 196 bags of multi-stress seed variety/ green super rice (GSR) to affected farmers. For corn, the RFOs distributed 1,000 bags of hybrid seeds, 4,164 bags of OPV seeds and 550 bags of yellow corn. As of this month, the other actions taken by the DA already include monitoring; irrigation network services; cloud seeding; construction of Small Water Impounding Project (SWIP); construction of Diversion Dam; Rehabilitation of SWIP; improvement of irrigation canal, shallow tube well, and pump irrigation system open source, among others. As for livestock, the DA reported that 200 doses of vaccines and various vet drugs and biologics were provided thru the local government units to prevent the animals from acquiring diseases that are prevalent and devastating during dry season. To address water scarcity in vulnerable areas due to low water levels in reservoirs particularly those that are at the tail-end of the irrigations systems, the DA had also distributed 284 units of pump irrigation equipment for open source/replacement for damaged/non-functional pumps and 600 units shallow tube wells (STWs) to eligible farmers’ organizations and irrigators’ associations. Likewise, the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) has deployed contracted aircrafts to seed clouds for rain in identified vulnerable agricultural areas and watersheds to minimize the impact of El Niño to crop production. “To date, a total of 146 sorties were conducted which has reached 184 flying hours covering the Provinces of Isabela, Bohol, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and Sarangani,” the data further specified. Similarly, the RFOs already identified critical areas and intensified its cloud seeding operations in strategic locations nationwide to save crops. It was also undertaken in areas of wide magnitude where the development of crop such as rice and corn becomes critical due to inadequate soil moisture. In a related development, the Department of Trade and Industry on Friday declared a State of Calamity due to  El Niño in Butuan, Zamboanga, General Santos cities  as well  as the provinces of Bukidnon, North Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Maguindanao, and Guimaras. The DTI said that prices of basis commodities in areas declared in State of Calamity shall be automatically frozen at their prevailing levels. Source - mb.com.ph