OCD allows farmers to harvest crops within Kanlaon’s 6-km. danger zone

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) is allowing farmers to harvest their crops even as Kanlaon volcano remains restless, Donato Sermeno III, regional director for the Negros Island Region said Monday.

Sermeno said that the local government of La Castellana requested the OCD that farmers will be allowed to harvest their sugarcane over the weekend.

Task Force Kanlaon, through the Regional Incident Management Team supervised the harvesting activities of sugarcane farmers in Brgy. Mansalanao within the 6-kilometer danger zone of Kanlaon volcano.

Semeno said the sugarcane is scheduled for harvesting already.

The ‘l”window time” is from 6am to 4pm only, he said.

The OCD said the supervised farming activities in the danger zone is aimed “to balance the safety of evacuees with the need to sustain their livelihood, particularly during the harvest season.”

Semeno said they were allowed to enter the 6-kilometer danger zone because the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology gave an advisory that the carbon emission is lower.

He said other localities affected by the danger zone like La Carlota City and Bago City can also request the Task Force for a suspension of the ban of human activities within the volcano’s danger zone.

Sermeno, however, said that he has no figures how many farmers benefitted from the window time.

“We are now trying to improve the system. We are focusing now in ensuring that the farmers are safe in case Kanlaon erupts again,” he pointed out.

He said that not all who want to harvest their crops are inside the 6-kilometer danger zone of Kanlaon volcano.

The Office of the Provincial Agriculturist reported that as of January 13, the eruption of Kanlaon volcano in Negros island has caused P129,758,168.52 in agricultural damages in Negros Occidental.

It added that a total of 22 barangays, 1,412 farmers and 624.05 hectares were affected by the eruption.

Hardest hit were high value crops with P124,931,974 in damages, rice- P4,192,837.02, corn- P503,342,50 and fisheries- P130,005.* (EYA)