The El Niño drought has caused P77.7 million in damage to rice and corn crops in mostly rainfed farms in southern Negros Occidental affecting 1,963 farmers, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday, March 4.
Damage to rice crops was P77,544,981 and P157,852 to corn as of May 1, the governor said.
The governor said that the rice crops in areas covered by the Bago River Irrigation System have not been affected by the drought.
He said farmers in the rainfed areas were forewarned that they would not have a good crop because of the El Niño phenomenon but they took a chance and are suffering now.
The governor, who had requested the Department of Agriculture regional office for cloud seeding to induce rain and mitigate the drought damage, said the DA has sent two Bureau of Soil and Water Management engineers to Negros.
They will be in Negros for three days to scan the area and their initial findings showed that the potential clouds for seeding are in north Negros but unfortunately the damage is in the south, Lacson said.
“They are still going around province and hopefully next week they will have a recommendation,” he said.
However, if they decide that it is viable to conduct cloud seeding it will take another month before procurement of needed materials can start, Lacson said.
The latest report submitted by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist to Lacson showed that the P77.7 in crop damage has affected 1,676 hectares in 78 barangays in 11 local government units in Negros Occidental.
Kabankalan City had the most rice damage at P41,726,761.20, followed by Cauayan – P14,001,540, Ilog – P7,487,370.24, Himamaylan City – P3,732,556.92 , Valladolid – P3,397,598.72 Hinoba-an – P2,525,595.60, Hinigaran – P1,751,055.20, Sipalay City – P1,623,445.63, Binalbagan – P513,360, Moises Padilla – P 450,897, and Isabela – P334,800.
Damage to corn in Sipalay City was P157,852.80.*