BACOLOD City – The Department of Agriculture (DA) and Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) are assessing areas to be covered by the proposed cloud seeding in Negros Occidental.
The DA deployed a team inspecting southern towns in the province where rice farms are affected by extreme heat due to the El Niño phenomenon, said Provincial Agriculturist Dina Genzola on Thursday.
The examination will continue in the north and central parts for the rest of the week, Genzola added.
Around 445 farmers in five localities have incurred P16 million crop losses in 408.53 hectares of rice farms due to the prolonged dry spell, according to the OPA’s initial report.
“We could expect the result of the assessment after a week, but initially the BSWM and DA personnel have seen the need for cloud seeding in the entire province,” Genzola said.
Genzola noted the province needs at least 1,000 hectares of potential agricultural farms that can still be “saved” for cloud seeding.
Negros Occidental has 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,” 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, she added. (With a report from PNA/PN)
