(UPDATED) DA-6 braces for El Niño; preps mitigation measures

By John Noel E. Herrera

The Department of Agriculture (DA)-6 is bracing for El Niño and the agency is already preparing its mitigation measures to lessen the possible impact that the weather phenomenon might bring to the farmers in Western Visayas.

DA-6 OIC regional executive director Engr. Jose Albert Barrogo, in a press conference on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, said that El Niño would be a big problem in the province and the agency already planned to convene a Regional Technical Working Group to address advisories related to the weather phenomenon.

“Kung magtupa gid man ang El Niño, it’s a big problem naman sa aton. So, ang isa sa gina-ubra subong sang deparamento amu ang pag convene sang Regional Technical Working Group naton nga mag-issue kita sang official planting calendar advisories sa aton mga LGU nga we need to adjust sa climate change naton nga gina-tawag,” Barrogo said.

“El Niño” is widely used to describe the warming of sea surface temperature that occurs every few years, typically concentrated in the central-east equatorial Pacific, and leads to prolonged dry spells.

An El Niño is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5 °C above the long-term average. El Niño is felt strongly in the tropical eastern Pacific with warmer than average weather.

The effects of El Niño often peak during December. The name, which means “the boy”, is thought to have originated as “El Niño de Navidad” centuries ago when Peruvian fishermen named the weather phenomenon after the newborn Christ.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) earlier upgraded its monitoring of oceanic temperatures to an El Niño Watch, which indicated that there is a high chance that El Niño would develop in the next six months.

In a briefing, PAGASA said El Niño “will likely develop in the July-August-September 2023 season and may persist until 2024.”

DA-6 advised farmers, especially those in irrigated areas, to start the planting season early, so that when El Niño comes, they are already in the harvesting period.

“Isa pa gid amu ang gina-tawag naton nga convergence in providing interventions. Ini gina-tipon namon ang tanan nga agencies and gina-assess kung ano ang subsidies ang ginapanghatag naton para isa na lang, kag kami sa government agencies hindi na magpina-iya-iya, kundi together na nga naga resolve sang issue,” Barrogo added.

He also said that it is important to have an early or scheduled release of water from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), noting that the water used by farmers in the region is mostly dependent on NIA.

NIA-6 earlier expressed plans to implement an alternate wetting and drying when the irrigation opens in May to prevent wasteful use of water.

“Amu ni siya nga hindi bala nga daw gina-flood gid ang kaumahan. Usually daan daw gina-flood gid ang talamnan, but with alternate wetting and drying, patubigan lang ang mga talamnan kung kinahanglan, para even ang distribution kag ma-utilize naton ang tubig,” NIA-6 public relations officer Danielle Pijuan said in a radio interview.

Meanwhile, DA-6 encouraged farmers venture into “cash crops”, like planting water melons during the summer season, to increase their earnings.

“May mga green houses man kita, may screen houses nga gina-provide sa aton farmers’ association, high time for them nga ina nga projects mapuslan nila sa pagpatubo sang mga cash crops nga gina tawag,” Barrogo added.

He hoped that local government units (LGUs) would be able to extend help to the farmers as DA-6 could not really cover all the assistance due to the agency’s decreased budget.

“From the 68,000 hectares anay naton nga ginatagaan (highbreed seeds) assistance, subong nga 2023, nahimo na lang 2,000 plus hectares ang gina hatag nga allocation, which is inevitable man sya becuase sa pag decrease man sang budget, so dira na naton tani ma-tap ang LGUs,” Barrogo said.