ILOILO CITY —The agriculture sector in Western Visayas (Region 6) continued to deliver and remained among the top five performing regions amid challenges in 2024, including El Niño, Mt. Kanlaon eruption and the African swine fever (ASF).
The Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project Stage II in Calinog, Iloilo, is the largest water reservoir project of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) outside Luzon. It is expected to expand NIA’s irrigation service by 9,500 hectares, benefiting 7,000 farmers across 17 towns in Iloilo. PNA PHOTO
Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional 6 Director Dennis Arpia said the El Niño phenomenon impacted production per hectare but across all commodities, the production was positive.
Losses and damage due to El Niño reached around P1.7 billion in Western Visayas, affecting mostly farmers and fishers.
Two of the most affected provinces, Iloilo and Antique, declared a state of calamity.
Production output
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed palay (unmilled rice) production in Western Visayas during the third quarter of 2024 was estimated at 341,844 metric tons (MT).
Negros Occidental led in total output with 126,545 MT, followed by Iloilo with 98,289 MT; Antique, 52,448 MT; Capiz, 46,490 MT; Guimaras, 11,336 MT; and Aklan, 6,788 MT.
Based on PSA data, irrigated palay produced 211,120 MT, while rainfed palay had 130,724 MT.
For corn, Western Visayas produced 77.272 MT for the third quarter.
Iloilo contributed 38.5 percent or 7,990 hectares (ha) to the total corn area harvested, followed by Negros Occidental with 6,519 ha and Capiz with 5,940 ha.
Aklan, Antique, and Guimaras contributed 94 ha, 11 ha and 110 ha, respectively.
For livestock and poultry, the PSA reported that carabao production reached 4,281 MT; cattle, 4,206 MT; hog, 24,743 MT; and goat, 1,310 MT.
Negros Occidental contributed half of the region’s livestock inventory.
For poultry, the inventory of chicken was at 19.4 million, with Iloilo and Negros Occidental as top contributors.
Interventions
Arpia said they are working on increasing hybrid rice, especially since more farmers are interested, and identifying more viable areas for corn plantation.
“In Western Visayas, we have sustained the interest of our farmers to continue fighting because they saw the impact if they embrace new technology,” he said, citing the high-level participation of local government units.
In March this year, the provincial government of Iloilo met and tackled priority programs and interventions to advance the sector, including Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr.’s plan to establish agricultural management units to help improve farming practices and make operations more efficient.
The DA-Western Visayas allocated P16 million to boot palay production; P9 million for developing hybrid clusters; and P7 million for inbred rice clusters.
Iloilo allocated P451,662.49 for hybrid rice and P101,684.73 for inbred rice propagation.
In Antique, the timely release of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund seed support enabled the province to immediately replant and cushion the impact of calamities on rice production.
Gina Jordan, acting chief of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), said Antique received 66,710 bags of rice seeds, benefitting 22,228 farmer-beneficiaries.
As of November 2024, Antique farmers harvested 210,878.94 MT from 61,061.93 ha of rice land.
The OPA is optimistic it can attain or even surpass the 254,370.10 MT production in 2023.
The Farm and Fisheries Cluster and Consolidation Program was also implemented, where the focus is on clustering farmers for more holistic interventions.
The DA had validated 138 clusters for rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock and organic farmers in the region.
It also provided various training on agro-enterprise clustering approaches for inclusive value chains to 12 clusters.
Jalaur Dam
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also inaugurated on July 16 the Jalaur River MultiPurpose Project Stage II (JRMP II) in Calinog, Iloilo, which the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said is the largest water reservoir project outside Luzon.
The JRMP II will expand NIA’s irrigation service by 9,500 ha, benefiting 7,000 farmers across 17 towns in the province. It will also increase water supply to five existing national irrigation systems, covering 22,340 ha and supporting 18,000 farmers.
“This should further boost the development in the agricultural sector as well as the local economy of the entire region. In fact, it is estimated to help increase annual rice production in Region 6 by 160,000 metric tons, which is almost 20 percent of the region’s annual rice requirement,” Marcos said.
Arpia said they are preparing plans and programs that will commence once the irrigation canals are operational. He said while they are looking for bigger production in terms of rice, they can also look for windows for other high-value crops.
“We were given a P100-million budget for the Palayamanan Program. It’s a rice-based integrated farming system, and we are to identify beneficiaries that will work on a much-improved way of rice production,” he said.
Recovering from ASF
Farmers’ confidence is gradually returning, and while it is not 100 percent back to normal, Arpia said more areas in the region have shifted to pink (buffer zone) from red (infected with ASF) and from pink to yellow (high risk).
Arpia said it means there are no longer positive cases or incidences of mortality in the areas.
On Oct. 4, DA kicked off its sentinelling program in the region in Oton, Iloilo, where the first ASF cases were detected in 2022.
The Bureau of Animal Industry, in its Dec. 16 report, said that of the 76 local government units affected by ASF in Western Visayas, 49 upgraded to the pink zone while two have progressed to yellow.
“The Western Visayas hog universe is mainly backyard, which has a very challenging biosecurity not only for ASF but also other illnesses,” said Arpia.
He added that they are looking at a higher confidence level and assured production once the field testing for ASF vaccination is completed.
Arpa said swine farmers, mostly from Negros Occidental, signified intent to avail of vaccination.
In a report, DA livestock coordinator Glenn Mariano said they hoped to counter the impact of ASF in the region through the Integrated National Swine Production Initiative for Recovery and Expansion program.
Other than the sentineling, DA has 30 sow-level multiplier farm projects for producing quality breeder piglets and 30 sow-level production farms as pork sources for the local market.
The Agriculture Training Institute likewise established artificial insemination centers.
The PSA report showed the hog inventory in Western Visayas for the third quarter was 598,257, with Negros Occidental producing more than half at 356,234 heads and Antique with 75,551 heads.
The separation of Negros Occidental from Western Visayas may have lessened the region’s area of responsibility, but somehow it will be favorable to the farming sector, needing more support to improve the agriculture sector.
Arpia said Western Visayas will continue to assist Negros Occidental, which is now part of the newly created Negros Island Region, while it is still in its transition phase.
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