IDIS joins calls for DA to rehabilitate Mindanao’s watersheds
DAVAO CITY – A local environmental advocacy group welcomed the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) recommendation that the Department of Agriculture and local government units should prioritize watershed rehabilitation in Mindanao to lessen the impact on farming systems in the island. The Interface Development Interventions, Inc, (IDIS) which advocates for the preservation of the Davao City watershed welcomed BWSM Chief Dr. Silvino Tejada’s remarks but pointed out that rehabilitation should be expanded to include other watershed areas in the island that are in need of protection and preservation. “Here in Davao, our very own Panigan-Tamugan watershed needs protection as it is being threatened by the expansion of corporate plantations at the expense of the small farmers”, said IDIS Executive Director Lia Jasmin Esquillo. Panigan-Tamugan watershed is the location of the City’s future drinking water source. Esquillo revealed that in the case of Mt. Tipolog, Davao’s forgotten volcano which lies on the Panigan-Tamugan range, small farmers have been forced to farm the mountain slopes because the lowlands have already been overrun by agri-plantations devoted to pineapple and bananas. “As in the case of BWSM’s survey on the watershed resources in Northern Mindanao, watersheds here in the Davao region are already overexploited and therefore, small farmers will be at risk from the problems brought about by sudden and frequent climatic change.”, she said. The BWSM survey, which evaluated the soil and land resources of watershed areas in Lanao del Norte, Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte, had showed that overexploitation of the natural resources in these areas have resulted to lower productivity among small farms present in the region. Esquillo said that adopting organic farming and prohibiting the further expansion of plantation areas are initiatives that DA should be adopting to restore farm productivity. “Since Davao City already has the Organic Agriculture Ordinance, DA should be mainstreaming organic farming among the barangays in the upland regions as a initial step towards restoring the productivity of the land and in combating threats to food security from climate change”, she said.