In North Cotabato, the Philippines, the El Nino phenomenon and rat infestations have caused almost one billion pesos of damage to agricultural crops, including banana and vegetables, reported the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAG) on Wednesday 17 February.
Of this figure, the OPAG said around P880 million was due to the ongoing dry spell, while P82 million worth of damage was due to rodents.
The crop scourge covered over 45,000 hectares of land and affected an estimated 37,000 farmers.
Rats had been pestering farmers in the towns of Kabacan,Libungan, Magpet, President Roxas and Kidapawan City.
The provincial government had since launched an anti-rat drive by giving rice incentives to residents who could kill as many rats as possible. Local farmers were also given rodenticides.
Meanwhile, the regional Department of Agriculture (DA-12) Region 12 and the provincial government had separately been conducting cloud seeding operations, which resulted in scattered rain showers — although the damaged crops were beyond saving.
