El Niño strategy to focus on irrigation, cold storage

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) plans for the looming El Niño will center around irrigation and water impounding projects as well as expanding the cold storage network to preserve the harvest and minimize the need to import.

Mr. Laurel said inadequate storage and infrastructure is a major factor in decisions to import produce, even though the Philippines can grow enough onions and carrots to meet domestic demand.

Mr. Laurel said storage investment needs to be guided by accurate data on production capacity and post-harvest losses.

He said the DA had more time to prepare for El Niño this year compared to other El Niño years. Weather forecasters expected El Niño to peak around November.

“Preparedness prevents a challenge from becoming a crisis, and a crisis from deteriorating into a catastrophe. That must be our guiding principle in the months ahead,” Mr. Laurel said in a statement.

He noted that some mitigating factors include easing fuel prices and the decline in global fertilizer prices to around $450 per metric ton from $930 at the height of the Persian Gulf crisis, and the expected decline of domestic fertilizer prices to P1,600 per bag by August. — Marron Joshua F. Mendoza