River dredging, tree farming seen as solutions to flooding

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture is pushing for the dredging of rivers and intensified tree farming to address the problem of severe flooding during typhoons that affects the local farm sector.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the majority of damage to the sector is a result of the flooding in the vast agricultural valleys like Cagayan Valley and the river basins of Pampanga, Bulacan, Bicol, Agusan and Rio Grande de Mindanao.

“The cutting down of trees and the clearing of mountains to give way to settlements have contributed to the ‘loosening of the soil.’ The siltation which eventually ends up in the coastal areas also destroys corals in fishing grounds,” he said.

Because of this, the DA has proposed the immediate dredging of the major rivers of the country to end the water backflows and flooding during typhoons and rainy season and open thousands of hectares of fertile areas to agriculture.

“The dredging of the major rivers is an expensive and daunting undertaking but it must be done as an immediate remedy to minimize the flooding and the destruction of agricultural crops during the typhoon and rainy season,” Piñol said.

“The dredged silt from these rivers, presumably peat soil, could be used in reinvigorating the fertility of the farmlands near the river basins,” he added.

For the long-term, the DA, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the local government units target to intensify the country’s tree farming program, especially fruit bearing trees, in the sloping and undulating agricultural areas of the country.

Last year, DA adopted tree farming as an agricultural activity and promoted the planting of fruit-bearing trees like cacao and coffee in undulating and sloping areas of the country to address serious environmental problems affecting agriculture and fisheries.

The DA has started the planting of falcata trees in the ancestral domain areas of indigenous peoples under the Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran ng Kababayang Katutubo or the 4Ks program.

“The LGUs will also have to be engaged in implementing the new policy of the DA to discourage the use of weed killers in sloping and undulating areas where farmers plant corn and other cash crops,” Piñol said.