PIA 2009/11/23

Iloilo City (23 November) -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) in the province of Iloilo has been encouraging farmers to prepare for the ill effects of El Nino as part of Climate Mitigation measures.

DA Regional Technical Dir. Remelyn Recoter said during the "Second Farmers' Congress" in Cabatuan last week that the farmers should work hand in hand with the DA in these endeavors.

Recoter said they are currently developing rice varieties like the submergent-tolerant and rought-tolerant varieties for flooded and EL Nino affected areas respectively.

She said these new varieties are needed by farmers because environment experts had reported that food production decreases as temperature increases.

The DA officer said the provinces of Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental are vulnerable to the El Nino event this year.

She said farmers should adopt the "palayamanan" technology wherein livestock and inland fisheries, as well as vegetables are grown in addition to rice and corn.

DA also asked farmers to adopt modified rapid composting to mitigate effects of climate change.

Recently, they have distributed shredders to some local government units to help farming communities with composting. (PIA6/ESS)