Negros Occidental is expected to experience droughts from December to March, a Department of Agriculture (DA) official said Friday, Nov. 6.
In fact dry spell conditions are already being felt in the province despite intermittent rains, Engr. Marion Joseph Tagle, chief of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of the DA Negros Island Region (DA-NIR), said.
A dry spell refers to a condition in which rainfall is below normal for three consecutive months, or when there is a 20 to 60 percent reduction in rainfall, Tagle said.
Drought refers to a reduction in rainfall of more than 60 percent, he added.
A DA-NIR report released Friday showed that agricultural damage to rice and corn has reached ₱40.9 million, affecting 2,353 farmers across 1,483 hectares of farmland and resulting in 1,593 metric tons of lost production in Negros.
Rice production losses stood at 1,397.65 metric tons, while corn production losses reached 195.35 metric tons.
According to the DA report, damaged rice areas in Negros Occidental cover Hinigaran (822.74 ha), Toboso (114.77 ha), Ilog (100.60 ha), Cadiz City (68.43 ha), La Castellana (56.60 ha), Escalante City (56.08 ha), San Carlos City (53.17 ha), Salvador Benedicto (36.60 ha), Binalbagan (28.02 ha), Kabankalan City (20.87 ha), Moises Padilla (8.61 ha), and Sagay City (6.21 ha).
Meanwhile, damaged corn crops account for 91.93 hectares in Toboso, Negros Occidental, and 18.45 hectares in San Jose, Negros Oriental.
Most of the affected crops are rainfed, meaning they rely entirely on natural rainfall rather than irrigation.
An earlier report dated October 27 from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist had placed the El Niño-related crop damage in Negros Occidental slightly higher at ₱42.4 million.*
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