DENR-ARMM warns of kaingin in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY – Despite the seemingly unbearable heat as the El Nino phenomenon is nearing its peak, some farmers in Maguindanao are still into vintage farming system that put the surrounding in danger, an environment official today said.Forester Kahal Kedtag, regional secretary Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DENR-ARMM), said he learned that some farmers in the upland part of Maguindanao use the kaingin” (slash and burn) system to clear their farm lots ahead of the coming of the rainy season. This is very dangerous, especially now that we are experiencing dry spell,” Kedtag told reporters. If this kind of farming, it can destroy vast tracts of lands if go out of proportion,” he said, citing what happened to Indonesia last year where the haze produced by forest fires reached up to Mindanao.He also cited the forest fire in Bubong, Lanao del Sur last January which alarmed environmentalists. sand//scontent-hkg3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t34.0-12/12696199_943314299051773_1393301483_n.jpg?oh=317507f829b922e8336668ec89e6c90candampoe=56BD8D40 We have to admit, some farmers are unaware of the dangers of kaingin because they see it as easy, fastest and economical way of clearing farm lots, but this must be stopped,” Kedtag said. Kaingin is worst than logging or cutting of trees because in kaingin all kinds of plants are destroyed,” he said.Brig. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, 6th Infantry Division assistant commander, also expressed concern over the system because it destroys the forest that theenvironmentalists are trying to restore.Dela Vega, a known advocate for the restoration of denuded forests in Central Mindanao and forerunner of Balik Kalikasan Advocacy Group (BKAG),have urged the public to continue planting trees to help cushion the impact of climate change.Kedtag said the DENR-ARMM will intensified drive against the slash and burn system of farming by educating the farmers in far-flung areas of the region.