Cloudseeding is always an option, guv says

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Monday said that cloud seeding is always an option to address the dry spell that will adversely affect crops and sugarcane in the province.

“That is always an option when there is a long drought we always request for cloud seeding,” the governor told reporters at the Panaad Park and Stadium here on the sidelines of the opening of the Panaad sa Negros Festival.

He further said that “maybe the time now is also good as you can experience there is still rain clouds and we also experience some rainfall.”

Lacson cited that in the past, cloud seeding was conducted through the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Regulatory Administration.

The governor, who had just arrived from a personal trip in Australia, said so far there is no report yet on damages caused by extreme heat.

Earlier, Negros Occidental 5th District Rep. Dino Yulo asked the Department of Agriculture, the Sugar Regulatory Administration, and the provincial government to prepare for eventual cloud seeding amidst extreme heat.

“We are in the middle of planting and cultivation, particularly in the sugar industry, and getting this extreme heat and probably a dry spell in the coming weeks will have a drastic effect on our agriculture,” Yulo pointed out.

Yulo said he is making an appeal to the DA, the SRA, and the province to “come up with a plan and start preparing for scheduled cloud-seeding to ensure that our industry will not suffer from this extreme weather condition.”

He said that efforts are being done to ensure the sugar industry increases its productivity after a low output in the last crop year than in the past.

“We need to make sure that these efforts will not go to waste because we are not prepared to combat the effects of a dry spell which is totally beyond the control of our farmers,” he further said.