Drought spreads

Source: Manila Bulletin
The long dry spell has adversely affected 3,780 hectares of farmland in Antique while 3,200 fowls died due to heat stroke as the effects of the El Niño phenomenon spreads further around the country.

This developed as President Arroyo is taking a direct hand on the government’s game plan against the ill-effects of El Niño on the agriculture sector as she tours the North Luzon provinces next week.

National Irrigation Authority (NIA) Senior Irrigators Development Officer Engr. Julito Pamiroyan said the agency is now stepping up its campaign to mitigate the ill effects of the long dry spell by conducting weekly monitoring of farmlands, particularly those covered by irrigation system in Antique.

“NIA is undergoing monitoring to ensure that water distribution schedule of irrigations systems were followed and water be efficiently used by farmers,” he said.

Latest monitoring showed that 1,225 hectares of farmland – 600 hectares served by communal irrigation and 625 hectares under the Sibalom-San Jose Irrigation System – were reported damaged.

Grace Aquillo, NIA personnel officer, said that aside from damaged areas, about 2,555 hectares were declared affected while 3,562 hectares are considered vulnerable areas for El Niño.

“Most farmlands are planted with rice on vegetative stage. Limited supply of irrigation water and too much exposure to heat can cause destruction of crops. Food production of the province will eventually decline”, said Pamiroyan.

NIA has been doing its best to repair irrigation facilities to ensure that water flows directly and efficiently to farmlands. Despite destruction brought about by calamities in the previous years, water shortage due to El Niño can ultimately affect food production.

A source said there are areas near the water source of irrigation systems that continue to avail sufficient supply of water for this third cropping season. “We hope these areas can augment attainment
of palay sufficiency target of the province,” said the source.

Pamiroyan encouraged the farmers to be cooperative by efficiently using irrigation
water and following the water distribution schedule to avoid conflict among end users.

In Balaon, La Union, at least 2,000 chickens and 1,200 chicks reportedly suffered heat stroke and were found dead in a commercial farm.

Hundreds of chickens in a farm in Santol town were reported to have died because of the extreme heat that continues to prevail in different parts of the province.

The poultry raisers claimed the El Niño phenomenon will surely result in multimillion-peso loss.

The concerned livestock raisers claimed they have not yet recovered from the effects of the wrath of Pepeng
and now they are again facing a serious battle to save their animals from extreme heat. They appealed to concerned government agencies and local governments to assist them in a bid to cope with the situation.

La Union is one of the provinces in Northern Luzon which is moderately affected by the El Niño phenomenon but the same could worsen once the prolonged dry spell will extend up to the middle part of this year.

Aside from the poultry industry, some 40 percent of the province’s rice farms are now starting to be ravaged by the effects of El Niño, thus, thousands of farmers are now worried on where to source out a living if their crops for the dry season are totally damaged.

While the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the local governments have provided the farmers with shallow tube wells, another problem facing them is the depletion of water flowing into the major river systems in the lowlands.

Agriculture stakeholders admitted the current effects of El Niño will have a great impact on the country’s food security in the coming months since the supposed rice, corn, and livestock production will no longer be achieved due to the dry spell.

In President Arroyo’s final leg of her super region journey she started last month, the President is scheduled to launch her North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle (NLAQ) tour next week to check several agribusiness infrastructure projects, including irrigation systems, aimed at boosting food production in the country.

NLAQ covers the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Regions 1 and 2, Aurora province, and portions Tarlac, Nueva Ecija and Zambales. The region is being developed as an agribusiness haven in the north supply food in Luzon.

Based on her tentative schedule, the President is expected to visit Baguio, Cagayan, Isabela and Nueva Ecija for various engagements related to development of agribusiness next week. Isabela, Cagayan, and Nueva Ecija are among the provinces enduring the dry spell caused by the El Niño phenomenon.

The President, in a recent chat with reporters, said the two major problems arising from El Niño dry weather phenomenon are food shortage and reduced farmers’ income.

She said the government has ensured adequate food supply with the rice importation initiated by the National Food Authority despite the threat of El Niño.

The government must step up measures to help the farmers who will be affected by the drought, according to the President.

Mrs. Arroyo has already reactivated the El Niño task force led by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to take measures to curb the ill-effects of El Niño on the agriculture sector this year.

Included in the DA’s plan against El Niño-triggered drought are cloud seeding, shift to alternative crops, and installation of shallow tube wells.

Yap, meantime, said the government has made several inroads on agricultural production and food security from 2001 to 2009, citing construction of farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, ports, among others.

“Today, we have achieved gains in improving local farm productivity and have laid down the foundations to tap the high-end local and international markets for NLAQ’s produce,” he said.

“With these government interventions, we are better equipped to increase agricultural productivity, enhance food security, and seize the emerging potentials of the international market towards a better life for the people of NLAQ and the country,” said Yap.

Power outage blamed for death of miners
In Mindanao, power outage has been blamed for the death of at least four mining workers inside a mine tunnel at the gold rush village of Kematu in T’boli, South Cotabato.

South Cotabato Environmental Management Office chief Ramon Ponce de Leon said the incident was allegedly due to the sudden power outage late Thursday in the area which restricted the oxygen supplies inside the tunnel. “Because of the brownout, the machine providing oxygen to the workers inside the tunnel stopped functioning and they died of suffocation,” said De Leon.

Local rescuers recovered the remains of two miners Thursday evening inside a gold mining tunnel located at Sitio Tunnel in Barangay Kematu, the remains of two other miners are still missing. As of Friday morning, rescuers continued to locate the bodies of the two missing miners inside the tunnel.

“We’re doing everything to rescue them the soonest possible time,” De Leon said.

The entire province of South Cotabato has been experiencing rotational brownouts that last for five to six hours daily due to a load shedding scheme implemented by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). The long brownouts were blamed on the drastic decline of the generating capacities of the National Power Corporation’s hydroelectric plants due to the El Niño-triggered reduction of the water levels of Lake Lanao and the Agus and Pulangi Rivers. (With reports from Genalyn Kabiling and Nonoy Lacson)