The damage projected by the Department of Agriculture to rice and corn in Negros Occidental, which has been classified as a highly vulnerable El Niño  area, is P717,132,000 if not mitigated, Remelyn Recoter, DA Western Visayas regional technical director for operations, said yesterday.

The projected production loss to 7,260 hectares of rice involving 25,080 metric tons is P351,120,000, and to 32,781 hectares of corn involving 30,501 metric tons is P366,012,000, she said.

Recoter, however, said the areas and projected amount of damage in Negros Occidental are still subject for validation.

DA Regional Director Larry Nacionales said his office has proposed a P190 million El Niño mitigation budget for Western Visayas with Negros Occidental, Capiz and Iloilo having been classified as highly vulnerable areas.

Proposed by the DA for Negros Occidental is P35,125,470 for irrigation, production support,  financing and  crop insurance,  and advocacy work to save rice, corn, high value commercial crops and livestock, the report said.

The DA list of the size of vulnerable areas in Negros Occidental subject for validation include: Bacolod City – 30 hectares of rice, Bago City – 1,700 has. rice and 10 has. corn, Binalbagan – 295 has. rice and 10 has. corn, Cadiz – 200 has. rice and 10 has. corn, Calatrava – 600 has. rice and 10 hectares corn;

Candoni – 170 has. rice and 47 has. corn, Cauayan – 350 has. rice and 94 has. corn, Don Salvador Benedicto – 65 has. rice and 75 has. corn, EB Magalona – 287 has. rice and 85 has. corn, Escalante City – 30 has. rice and 50 has. corn, Himamaylan City – 200 has. rice and 10 has. corn;

Hinigaran – 265 has. rice and 10 has. corn, Hinoba-an – 450 has. rice and 131 has. corn, Ilog – 150 has. rice and 7 has. corn, Isabela – 190 has. rice and 30 has. corn, Kabankalan City – 450 has. rice and 40 has. corn, La Carlota City – 200 has. rice and 20 has. corn;

La Castellana – 120 has. rice and 10 has. corn, Manapla – 130 has. rice and 15 has. corn, Moises Padilla – 101 has. rice and 10 has. corn, Murcia – 290 has. rice and 50 has. corn, Pontevedra – 58 has rice and 20 has. corn, Pulupandan – 30 has. rice, Sagay City – 250 has. rice and 80 has. corn;

San Carlos City – 280 has. rice and 30 has. corn, San Enrique – 300 has. rice, Silay City – 62 has. rice and 15 has. corn, Sipalay City – 350 has. rice and 162 has. corn, Talisay City – 30 has. rice and 10 has. corn, Toboso – 80 has. rice and 20 has. corn, Valladolid – 400 has. rice, Victorias City – 45 has. rice and 10 has. corn.

Nacionales said 6,000 has. of rice covered by the Bago irrigation system are already in the vegetative and productive stages and are seen to be able to survive the dry spell.

He said the crops vulnerable to the drought are those located downstream and midstream.

Farmers are advised to shift from rice that needs a lot of water to vegetative crops in these areas to avoid production losses, he said.

The DA, he said, will provide vegetative seeds and technical assistance.

CLOUD-SEEDING

Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental provincial government has began cloud-seeding operations and had induced rainfall this week in 15 towns and cities, Agriculturist 2 Albert Barrogo said.

The provincial government cloud-seeding operations to mitigate the drought, which has been allocated P2.5 million, is expected last four months depending on the availability of clouds, he said.

They could not conduct cloud-seeding yesterday because of the unavailability of clouds in their target areas, he said.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Information Agency quoting an assessment report of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist and the Bureau of Soils and Water Management cloud-seeding officer, Leilanie Naga, said about 7,000 has. of rice and 343 has. of corn  in their reproductive stages in Negros Occidental have already been affected by the drought.

About 28,000 has. of newly planted and rationed sugarcane in Moises Padilla, Himaymaylan, Hinigaran and La Castellana were also  already threatened, it said.

The province will be losing some P1.7 billion worth of crops if there will be no intervention to mitigate the effects of El Niño, the PIA also reported.

Sugar Regulatory Administrator Rafael Coscolluela yesterday said it was too early to tell how El Niño will affect the current sugarcane crop.

“It is too early to tell.  A lot of the new crop actually looks good,” he said.

“We’ll have to wait for an assessment. For now it will depend on how long the dry spell will last,” he added.*CPG

back to top