Villar urges farmers to be climate-smart
To beat the effects of El Nino and the changing climate, Re-electionist Senator Cynthia Villar urged farmers to be climate-smart. “Our farmers will have better chances of beating El Nino and the effects of climate change if they are educated on the actions to be taken in order to avoid agricultural losses,” Villar said. Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, made this statement following a report by the Department of Agriculture saying that the damage to rice and corn crops due to El Nino has reached P5.7 billion. Villar said training programs such as the Climate-Smart Farm Business School are offered by the Agricultural Training Institute and farm schools nationwide to help farmers build resilience in the face of a changing climate. The Nacionalista Party Senator also cited the steps taken by government in order to cushion the agriculture sector from the negative effects of El Nino through the planting of drought-tolerant seeds, cropping calen...