President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged the public to grow their own vegetables to help cushion the impact of Super El Niño on the country, particularly on agricultural production.
Marcos said the expected dry spell could severely affect vegetable production due to a lack of water, prompting the government to encourage households to plant vegetables in their backyards and other available spaces.
“The only thing that will be hard-hit will be vegetables kasi walang tubig, tuyot lahat,” Marcos said in a media interview in Singapore on Sunday, Oct. 11.
“Balikan natin ‘yung Green Revolution. Let’s encourage everybody. Nagka-Green Revolution na tayo noon, a long time ago. Tapos nu’ng pandemic, nabuhay ‘yung ‘plantita.’ Ituloy na natin ‘yun,” he added.
“Let’s just keep that going. Get everybody to plant their own vegetables. Kaya naman. It will help,” the President said.
The initiative seeks to revive the home gardening trend that gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many Filipinos began growing vegetables and ornamental plants at home.
Marcos said the government was also preparing measures to help communities cope with the anticipated effects of Super El Niño, which he said could last until March next year.
Among the measures being considered are rainwater collection, water treatment and filtration, and cloud seeding in selected areas.
The President encouraged households to prepare containers to collect rainwater and said the government would provide guidance on how to treat and filter collected water to make it safe for use and consumption.
“Part of that public service and those public service messages will be, collect, bumili na kayo ng balde para ‘pag umulan, makolekta na ninyo lahat. Tuturuan namin kayo – we'll give you how to fil – ‘yung gamot para maging malinis. We'll give you the filter,” Marcos said.
“We’ll teach you how to do everything para hindi kayo magkasakit at maayos ang pag-treat ng tubig, pag-filter ng tubig. And it will be healthy even for little children,” he added.
Marcos said the government had also begun discussions on cloud seeding as part of efforts to address the expected dry conditions.
Despite the threat to agricultural production, the President assured the public that food supplies, particularly rice and meat products, remained “sufficient.“
“Siyempre, we’ll produce as much as we possibly can. Pero mabuti na ‘yung sigurado…Hindi mangyayari na maubusan tayo… Alam mo naman sa atin ‘pag sinabing food supply, bigas ‘yan. Ang ibig sabihin rice is food – is rice is food is rice. Well, hindi lang sa Pilipinas, and all of Asia. So, ‘yan ang tinitiyak natin,“ the President stressed.
He said the government would continue producing as much food as possible while ensuring that supplies would not run short.
He also assured the public that pork and beef supplies were adequate, while the country was producing more chicken than needed, contributing to a slight decline in poultry prices.
“In terms naman of pork, maayos naman. The production natin is okay. So food supply is assured,” he said.
