BACOLOD CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA) Western Visayas allocated a P2.5 million fund for cloud-seeding operation in Negros Occidental.
The DA team and Bureau of Soils and Water Management personnel have completed the assessment and may start the cloud-seeding operation next month, said Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) senior agriculturist Dina Genzola on Tuesday.
Genzola said the next step is the procurement and bidding process, which could last for a month.
According to OPA reports, the agriculture sector has incurred P60.61 million crop damages due to the prolonged dry spell and pests in Negros Occidental.
Genzola noted the cloud-seeding, which is seen to allay the adverse effects of the prevailing dry spell brought by the El Niño phenomenon, costs P40,000 per hour flight.
Worst-hit are the towns of Murcia and Binalbagan, which incurred a P8.29 million and P7.13 million in rice production losses.
Genzola said that with the conduct of cloud seeding, the OPA hopes the rice production output of the province will not suffer much. (With a report from PNA/PN)
