The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) in Palawan spent the first quarter of 2024 assisting coconut farmers in the mainland municipalities through a series of intervention programs, helping stave off the effects of peak El Niño season.
Senior Agriculturist for PCA Palawan Arlo Solano said that the PCA has taught in programs and applied mulching techniques to coconut farms in the mainland municipalities, in order to retain the moisture in the soil for their crops using farm wastes, coconut husks, and dried leaves.
“We assisted our coconut farmers to conserve soil moisture by application of mulching technology (…). [There is also] irrigation of coco plantation to help coconut trees experiencing water stress. These are the interventions we have doing to our coconut farmers in the province.
Furthermore, Solano said that they helped those farmers with financial capacity to implement zero tillage or “no-till farming,” a technique used to grow crops without disturbing the soil. They also encouraged these coconut farmers with applying salt fertilizers in their lands.
El Niño, a climate season characterized by extreme heatwaves that bring massive droughts, has been in effect in the Philippines since late 2023.
Analiza Solis, head of the Climate Monitoring and Prediction of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) noted that although the El Niño season “matured” this February 2024 and will start to wane, hotter months will come from March-May as they experience the peak impact of the heatwaves, droughts, and warming of the ocean and water basins.
Solis noted that this will affect more than 56 agricultural provinces nationwide as the extreme hot temperatures takes its toll on the land for three-to-five months, as some provinces were affected by a dry spell earlier than others.
PCA Palawan will continue implementing these programs beyond the peak season so as to properly address any concerns from their sector.
“Actually, this activity is part of the extension activities of our agriculturists deployed in mainland municipalities of Palawan. Kung kaya’t sa ngayon, kasalukuyan po itong ginagawa ang pagpapalaganap ng impormasyon para maibsan ang epekto ng El Niño sa mga sakop nila na mga munisipyo (…) kasama po ang Puerto [Princesa City], only in mainland,” Solano added.
