Alcala visits Central Mindanao amid confict, drought

COTABATO CITY - Agriculture Sec. Proceso Alcala on Friday visited conflict affected areas in Maguindanao and drought stricken areas in North Cotabato.Accompanying Alcala were regional agriculture officials, led by DA-12 Regional Director Amalia Jayag-Datukan.The visit was dubbed as 'Ulat sa Bayan Peace Caravan.'During his visit, Alcala distributed about PP400 million worth of projects to farmers, P138 of which went to provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and P220 million to the provinces in the SOCCSKSARGEN region.At a news conference, Alcala said priority were given to conflict affected communities in Maguidnanao in distributing agriculture projects.He said the agricultural assistance was part of the preparation of the establishment of a new political entity in the region. The president is serious for the passage of BBL,” he said.While passing North Cotabato, Alcala have personally seen the extent of damages to agricultural products and have not recommended the conduct of cloud seeding operations.He said cloud seeding would affect the mango industry.Alcala was told the mango plantations in the towns of Pikit, Aleosan and Midsayap are already in its flowering stage.season particularly Pikit, Aleosan, and Midsayap. However, DA officials have given the go signal for the cloud seeding to save corn products.According to Secretary Alcala, the rice farmers are less by the drought for they have already harvested in January and February. He said the most affected was the corn industry but DA officials could not give estimates of the total damages to corn products.