By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
The Negros Occidental Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) may seek a budget of P15 million to combat the effects of the upcoming El Niño phenomenon in the province.
OPA head Dr. Edmundo Raul Causing said they are also mulling the formation of the Provincial El Niño Task Force to cushion the effects of the dry spell.
As part of preparations, according to Causing, they have already begun surveying the local government units on large swathes of rice fields.
The OPA has also recently met with local rice farmers to listen to their plans and suggestions that could help minimize the effects of the dry weather conditions, and to give them options.
Previously, Department of Agriculture in Western Visayas regional director, Engineer Albert Barrogo, advised the local government units and their respective agriculture offices to form their respective El Niño Task Force early to help mitigate any calamities related to the dry weather conditions.
“[We are] preparing for the worst. The department is ready to extend interventions to affected areas,” Barrogo said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency on Friday, April 21.
El Niño, a weather phenomenon characterized by unusually warm ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, could affect the normal rainfall pattern in the country, generally resulting in reduced rainfall.
The state weather bureau, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, said the current warm weather pattern will likely transition to El Niño by the third quarter, or between July and September, of this year.
Last week, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he supports the request of 5th District Congressman Emilio Dino Yulo III to conduct cloud seeding to combat the ongoing dry spell in the province.
Yulo said the sugar industry is currently in the middle of cultivation and planting, and the prevailing dry season may have adverse effects on the province’s agriculture.
Cloud seeding is usually carried out by sprinkling particles from a plane. Using weather forecasting techniques, suitable clouds are identified based on the location of the target area and the prevailing winds.
Given the appropriate conditions, cloud seeding can modify clouds by producing rain in which none will fall naturally; or by increasing the amount of rain to a particular area.
Lacson said cloud seeding is one of the options to alleviate the dry conditions, pointing out there is still cloud cover and some areas in the province are even experiencing rainfall./DGB, WDJ