Dry weather strengthens its grip

Crop failure and bankruptcy threaten farmers

Wake-uppers:

Scene:  Former Cabinet Secretary and Bohol gubernatorial candidate Leoncio Evasco, Jr, said that the visit ofHugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) head Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio last Wednesday, March 20, affirmed the support of the Duterte family in his candidacy.  “Kining pag-anhi ni Inday Duterte nagsuporta kini sa  atong lantaw nga makab-ot nato ang kalinaw sa probinsya, makab-ot nato ang pagsulbad sa droga ug paghunong sa korupsyon nga maoy naglaganap diri sa atong probinsya karun,” said Evasco.  Carpio said Evasco, who was serving his father for a long time, was the choice.   “We support him in his campaign and candidacy as governor of Bohol,” Carpio said. Evasco is running against former Agriculture Secretary and outgoing Bohol 3rd district Rep. Art Yap.  Boy Pernia, campaign manager of Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado, said that there were at least 14,000 people who attended the event.

Scene: Leon Flores III, erstwhile chairman of the National Youth Commission (NYC) on Wow Pilipinas partylist:Wow Pilipinas is the leading tourism sector partylist and advocacy in the Philippines which champions opportunities and job creation through sustainable, quality, and modern tourism development and local community empowerment. “When we speak of tourism, it’s not all just about statistics of visitors or the means to entice them to be here. It is more important to include sustainable strategies to advance a balanced tourism agenda for people, profit, and planet,” said Patty Keng, the party’s first nominee.

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Farmer Joseph Osorio was eagerly waiting for rains expected to be dumped by Typhoon Chedeng last week, hoping that these would finally bring relief to his parched farm.

While it had rained in Jagna town, they experienced only a drizzle.

Crop failure and bankruptcy threaten
farmers as the dry spell caused by
 the El Niño phenomenon grips in Bohol
 province.  Nilo Bulag shows
a not fully developed eggplant which
 was affected by the hot temperature
 in his farm in Jagna town, Bohol province. 
Photo by Leo Udtohan

Osorio, 60, had to water his cabbage twice a day on an 8,000-square-meter farm lot at Sitio Labo in Barangay Boctol.  

Osorio said he started planting cabbage last February and he would wait till May for the harvest.

He fetched water from the reservoir in the barangay which he pays P20 per cubic meter. The water is sourced out from a stream which the water level has dwindled.

“Minipis na ang tubig. Kung  makuwaan namo og dili lang jud siya  mahubas maka-harvest pa mi taman sa May. Kay first week sa May puhon maluoy ang Ginoo maka-harvest naman mi (The water is drying up. If there is enough water, through God’s mercy, we can have a harvest in the first week of May),” he said.  

The village of Boctol in Jagna town is one of the places where residents grow vegetables including the neighboring mountain towns of Sierra Bullones, Duero and Guindulman.

Osorio said he lifted up the fate of his crops to G-d. If it does not rain in April, Osorio said he would not have a good harvest by May.

“Kung pagka- Abril og pananglitan mahubas na ang tubig failure na. Wala na mi mahimo kay nakaplastar nami mao lang amumahan.  Pagbuot sa Ginoo kung tagaan mi grasya o dili (If in April the water dries up, it would be a failure. We can’t do anymore but water the remaining crops to save it. It’s up to G-d if these remaining crops can survive),” he said.

Osorio said he knew about the El Niño advisory last year but he had no option but to plant vegetables for survival.

“Pero wala mi laing pangita. Ang amo, paswerte nalang, kumbaga ang Ginoo nalang ang muantigo muhatag og grasya namo.  Kung failure, failure. Naanad nami ma- failure basta El Niño (I don’t have other source of livelihood. As for me, it is just a matter of luck. It’s up to God if he would give us blessings. If it’s a failure, it’s a failure. We are used into this during El Nino),” he said.

Vegetable production in some towns in
Bohol province is also affected by the mild El Niño
phenomenon that farmer Joseph Osorio
waters his cabbage in Barangay Boctol in
Jagna town to save the crops from further damage.  Photo by Leo Udtohan

During good harvest, he said he could sell 3,000 kilos of cabbage for P20 per kilo.

The extreme heat also damaged the one-hectare farm of eggplant of Nilo Bulag in the adjacent village of Mayana.  

Bulag, 50,  said he was hoping to see rain clouds.  The intense heat damaged his plantation. Those that survived did not grow  as big.

Leaf miners also attacked his eggplants which some failed to fully develop.

The hot weather is also hurting his bell peppers. The tender, warm-season crops were not spared by the excessive heat.

His crops, however, were not insured by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.

Bulag said he was expecting a huge financial loss. He said the family have no savings to cover the loss. 

Asked what he would do, Bulag just smiled.

“Mag-ampo nalang jud (I just pray),” he said.

During good harvest, Bulag said he sells his crops along the road. Sometimes, vendors buy in bulk and sell the crops in the town proper and in the capital city of Tagbilaran.  

He said vegetable farming is where he gets money to support his children who are in college.

“Naanad nako.  Ikadaghan na. Naanad nako dili ka harvest (I am used to it. It happened many times. I am used into it that I can’t have a good harvest),” he said.

For farmers, the dry spell is a major source of stress as their livelihoods and communities depend on the weather.

Some farmers are facing crop failure and bankruptcy as the dry weather due to El Niño phenomenon strengthens its grip.

 But the hot temperature is yet in sight.

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