FAO expands El Niño response in Mindanao

• Source: http://www.kagay-an.com/fao-expands-el-nino-response-mindanao/
• Sunday, September 18, 2016

(News Release)

KIDAPAWAN CITY – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has expanded its El Niño response operations in Mindanao to provide farm inputs to an additional 5,500 small-scale farming households and improve the resilience of communities in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Region XII-SOCCSKSARGEN.

“We have just completed the distribution of certified rice seeds, corn seeds, fertilizer and vegetable seeds in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao,” said FAO Representative in the Philippines José Luis Fernández. “These inputs will allow them to re-start their livelihood activities and grow food for household consumption.”

The Department of Agriculture (DA) estimates that 101, 000 ha of crop areas in these four provinces were affected by El Niño, resulting in USD 17.9 million worth of production losses between February 2015 to July 2016.

The FAO project, which was mobilized at the request of the DA’s Regional Field Office XII and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DAF-ARMM), complements Government efforts to address the impact of El Niño across 16 regions of the Philippines.

“We were affected by drought especially because the El Niño was so long and it happened at the same time as the rat infestation. Many of the farmers here experienced a 30 to 40 percent reduction in yield,” said Rahib Mamaluba, a farmer-technician from Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Building resilience

To build the disaster preparedness and climate change adaptation capacities of beneficiary communities, FAO is also conducting training activities on drought management, improved crop production and resilience to climate-stress. This is expected to equip more than 100 DA and local government agricultural technicians and local farmer trainers to replicate the workshops in their respective barangays.

“This is giving us confidence because even before a calamity strikes, we already have an idea how we should prepare,” explained Jalani Pagital, a farmer from Datu Salibo, Maguindanao.

In an earlier project that ended June 2016, FAO worked closely with DA and DAF-ARMM to provide similar assistance to 5 000 farming and fishing households in Maguindanao and North Cotabato whose livelihoods were disrupted by a combination of natural and man-made disasters, including displacement due to armed conflict, drought and flooding.

Women were also trained in alternative livelihoods such as water hyacinth crafts production, as well as post-harvest and value-adding techniques that would help them supplement their household incomes to fast-track household-level disaster recovery.

“Because of the assistance we received and what we have learned from the training, hopefully someday there would no longer be poor farmers in our community,” Rahib added.

To date, FAO has assisted a total of 54, 300 farming households in Luzon and Mindanao whose livelihoods were affected by drought and strong typhoons associated with El Niño.

In addition to FAO internal funding of almost USD 1 million, the response was also made possible by the USD 1.6 million combined contributions of the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium (through FAO’s Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities) and reprogrammed savings from other FAO emergency response and resilience projects funded by the governments of Ireland, New Zealand and Norway.

More support on the way

Under an on-going USD 3 million-project funded by the Government of New Zealand, FAO is set to provide crop, livestock, poultry and fisheries production inputs to an additional 10 475 farming and fishing households in North Cotabato. Communities will also benefit from training in climate-smart practices, disaster preparedness, alternative livelihoods and product value-addition. The delivery of assistance will be phased until October 2017.

FAO finished the first tranche of the El Niño deliveries in June, almost at the same time that PAGASA declared the end of El Niño. But there were additional requests from the local governments so FAO released this second tranche with internal funds.

As for La Niña, FAO assisted DA months ago to do a national La Niña action plan for the agriculture sector. At that time, PAGASA warned of the possibility of a strong La Nina. However, this earlier projection changed in the last couple of months – seems it will be weak to moderate. In any case, FAO has reiterated to the government its readiness to assist should there be an official request. In the meantime, resilience-building assistance in the national level (planning/policy/budgeting), regional and community levels are integrated in FAO’s ongoing projects.