by Mar Serrano/PNA
The Albay Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) is preparing for the dry spell by conducting an inventory of areas vulnerable to El Niño.
This, after Albay Governor and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) chairman Al Francis Bichara, on Monday directed Cedric Daep, chief of the Albay Public Safety Emergency and Management Office (APSEMO), to prepare a contingency plan for the onslaught of the weather phenomenon.
Bichara also directed the Provincial Agriculture Office to field agricultural technicians to monitor and make an inventory of farm areas vulnerable to dry spell.
Daep, in an interview, said previous records indicate that likely to be affected are farmlands in the third and second districts of Albay.
Included in the list are the towns of Guinobatan, Jovellar, Oas, Pio Duran, Polangui, Libon and Ligao City in the third district, and Camalig, Daraga, Manito, Rapu-rapu and Legazpi City in the second district.
Daep said likely to experience drought are non-irrigated farms, upland, and shallow-rooted vegetable farm areas.
Che Rebeta, Albay Provincial Agriculture Office chief, in a phone interview, said that the province has a total 62,000 hectares of rice and corn farmlands.
A large part of these lands is irrigated, while some portions are rainfed, and a small part is upland.
