Gov't preparing for El Niño, says PBBM
Published Jun 21, 2023 04:20 am
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said the government is exploring rainwater technologies that are deemed helpful to mitigate El Niño in the country.
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Noel B. Pabalate)
Marcos bared this during the first National Soil Health Summit on Wednesday, June 21, where he talked about "grave and urgent" problems hounding the country's agriculture sector. "The administration is also exploring Water Security for Climate Resilient Rainwater Technologies, and the conduct of Cloud Seeding Operations for Agriculture," Marcos said. "All these to improve water conditions in production areas, in critical watersheds, and in our reservoirs. These are all part of the collective efforts to mitigate the effects of the El Niño phenomenon," he added. The President said the government has come up with a 5-point priority agenda on soil and water management, such as the national soil health program and the implementation of sustainable land management. He noted that this will ensure the proper use and management of soil resources, address land degradation, enhance crop productivity, and improve farmers’ income. "The administration shall empower the Bureau of Soil and Water Management to achieve these goals, especially through capacitating soil laboratories across the country to yield better data," the chief executive said. "We are conducting a soil and land resources mapping and evaluation process that includes soil-based and land-based level assessments, soil sample analyses and digital map preparations under the Philippine Soil Land Resources Information program," he added. Marcos emphasized that these efforts are aimed at forming a "cohesive overall approach" that will address the "systemic and perennial ills" in the agriculture sector. He lamented that while the Philippines is blessed with rich and fertile lands that fed and empowered Filipinos, " we will still find ourselves burdened by grave and urgent issues in providing quality and sufficient food for our people — some of which are caused by factors beyond our control, others are within, in fact, our control."
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Noel B. Pabalate)
Marcos bared this during the first National Soil Health Summit on Wednesday, June 21, where he talked about "grave and urgent" problems hounding the country's agriculture sector. "The administration is also exploring Water Security for Climate Resilient Rainwater Technologies, and the conduct of Cloud Seeding Operations for Agriculture," Marcos said. "All these to improve water conditions in production areas, in critical watersheds, and in our reservoirs. These are all part of the collective efforts to mitigate the effects of the El Niño phenomenon," he added. The President said the government has come up with a 5-point priority agenda on soil and water management, such as the national soil health program and the implementation of sustainable land management. He noted that this will ensure the proper use and management of soil resources, address land degradation, enhance crop productivity, and improve farmers’ income. "The administration shall empower the Bureau of Soil and Water Management to achieve these goals, especially through capacitating soil laboratories across the country to yield better data," the chief executive said. "We are conducting a soil and land resources mapping and evaluation process that includes soil-based and land-based level assessments, soil sample analyses and digital map preparations under the Philippine Soil Land Resources Information program," he added. Marcos emphasized that these efforts are aimed at forming a "cohesive overall approach" that will address the "systemic and perennial ills" in the agriculture sector. He lamented that while the Philippines is blessed with rich and fertile lands that fed and empowered Filipinos, " we will still find ourselves burdened by grave and urgent issues in providing quality and sufficient food for our people — some of which are caused by factors beyond our control, others are within, in fact, our control."