Davao officials urge gov't to limit land conversion

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - The government needs to regulate agricultural land conversion if it is to address the rice crisis, officials here said. Ever J. Abasolo, Mindanao Economic Development Council senior economic development coordinator, said that such measure was among the recommendations that the agency submitted to the government recently. "Right now, there is no law that prevents land conversion. It would be better if the government, Congress particularly, can come up with a legislation that will address the issue," Abasolo said. Another task that must be addressed is the rehabilitation of irrigation systems and the setting up of new ones to increase rice production. Edgardo P. Draculan, National Irrigation Administration-Davao Region division manager for operations, said that some of the irrigation systems put up by the government have been servicing not rice producing areas but farms converted into banana plantations. This is because, although the agency is tasked to monitor the use of the irrigation systems, it is not empowered to regulate land use. In Davao del Norte, he noted, farmers have converted 6,416 hectares of former rice lands into banana plantations since five years ago because of the promise of high profit. "Unless there is a law, we cannot do anything about it," Mr. Draculan said. The danger, he added, is that farmers have continued to convert their farms into banana plantations. The conversion has continued even after Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap called on for the moratorium on such a shift. Mr. Draculan added that while the government set aside P1 billion this year to rehabilitate irrigation systems, his agency has gotten just P50 million for this thrust, so far. - BusinessWorld