By Erwin Nicavera/PNA
BACOLOD CITY — A team from the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its attached agency, Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), are conducting an assessment of the areas in Negros Occidental to be covered by the proposed cloud seeding.
Being assessed are the areas south of the province, including Cauayan town, where rice farms are affected by extreme heat due to the El Niño phenomenon, said Dina Genzola, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), on Thursday.
For the rest of the week, the assessment will continue in the north and central parts, she added.
“We could expect the result of the assessment after a week, but initially the BSWM and DA people have seen the need for cloud seeding in the entire province,” Genzola said, adding that the DA-Western Visayas has allotted PHP2.5 million for the cloud seeding operations in Negros Occidental.
Initial figures showed 445 farmers in five local government units have incurred losses of almost PHP16 million in 408.53 hectares of rice farms due to the prolonged dry spell.
Genzola said that based on the BSWM regulation, the province needs at least 1,000 hectares of potential agricultural farms that can still be “saved” for cloud seeding to be recommended.
Negros Occidental has about 189,000 hectares of sugarcane farms and 65,000 hectares of rice fields, and many of these agricultural areas still have planted crops.
“It would still depend on the result of their assessment,” she said.
Genzola said the OPA is recommending the conduct of cloud seeding in the northern part of the province first so that the rains will not affect mango plantations in the neighboring province of Guimaras, which is preparing for the Manggahan Festival in May.
