Bacaoco: Task Force El Niño sends representative to Negros

CALLING all Don Bosco – Victorias alumni, past pupils, former teachers and staff! Balik kita sa Don Bosco! On February 6, Saturday, we will have our general alumni homecoming hosted by Batch ’85.

Registration starts at 8 a.m. followed by Thanksgiving Mass at 9:30 a.m. The mass will be officiated by no less than a cardinal – by our batchmate Fr. Cyril Cardinal, SDB! Come and reminisce our high school days with classmates and schoolmates. See you there!

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December and the early part of January was characterized by dry weather, particularly in southern Negros. Pagasa described the situation as manifestation of the El Niño phenomenon which was expected to affect the country for the entire first half of the year and intensifying by February. Negros and the whole Western Visayas were singled out as among the most vulnerable to be hit by El Niño.

Anticipating the ill-effects of a prolonged dry weather to sugar production and the entire agricultural sector, NFSP president Enrique D. Rojas requested the provincial government and SRA to seek the assistance of the Department of Agriculture, the Philippine Air Force and other national agencies to conduct cloud-seeding operations in El Niño provinces, with special emphasis on Negros Occidental.

Negros Occidental Governor Isidro Zayco promptly endorsed NFSP’s request to the Department of Agriculture. The DA heads the El Niño Task Force, which was reactivated by President Arroyo just last week to mitigate the impact of the dry weather phenomenon, which if unaddressed, might cause P10 billion damage to agriculture and the fisheries sectors.

The newly-reactivated El Niño Task Force immediately sprang into action on the NFSP-initiated request of Zayco by sending a member of its secretariat to get the view from the ground in Negros.

Leilani Naga of the Water Resources Management Division, Bureau of Soils deplaned in Bacolod last Friday to get a better appraisal of the actual situation. She coordinated with the Sugar Regulatory Administration, the provincial government, NFSP and other stakeholders in the province to gather data which can be used by the El Niño Task Force in determining the proper intervention for Negros.

Miss Naga said the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist has no data yet on the specific hectarage of particular crops affected by the dry weather. She also disclosed that SRA is not so keen on the cloud-seeding operations because the rains might diminish sucrose content of the remaining mature canes which will be harvested in the coming weeks.

Miss Naga also noted the irrigation systems operating in some sugar farms in Isabela. I informed her that some farms in northern Negros have also resorted to irrigating their newly planted canes because of the dry weather. I pointed out that the number of farmers who can afford such intervention is very limited; the vast majority of farmers cannot afford irrigation systems.

Apparently, the area which Miss Naga visited in southern Negros is very limited. To give her more detailed information on the southern Negros situationer, I asked her if she wants to talk to the concerned associations down south. She readily agreed.

I called up Alfonso Ongsuco, the manager of the Binalbagan-Isabela Planters Association (Bipa) headed by Quito Montilla. Ponso referred us to Manuel Perote, Bipa’s agriculturist who is in the best position to provide the needed information.

Manuel explained to Miss Naga that Isabela, the place she visited, ranks among the most fertile areas in the country but it represents only a small fraction of the almost 30,000 hectare BISCOM mill district which she has not fully seen.

While Isabela’s canes might appear healthy, those in other towns and cities in the Biscom mill district are suffering from the prolonged dry weather. Manuel emphasized to Miss Naga the need for immediate intervention in the form of cloud-making and cloud-seeding to moisten the parched farms of southern Negros.

Leilani Naga returned to Manila yesterday to present the data she gathered to the El Niño Task Force. Hopefully, the Task Force will take prompt action on the prolonged dry weather condition not only in southern Negros but also all over the island.

The Office of the Provincial Agriculturist should conduct post-haste a survey of the crops and the area affected by El Niño. SRA should also assist when it comes to sugar farms. These data are indispensable in crafting the crop and area-specific mitigating measures to soften El Niño’s blow. These data will be required by national government agencies when the province seeks their assistance.

While SRA gathers these data on the sugar farms, it might as well conduct a survey of the remaining mature canes in each mill district. How many hectares do we still expect to harvest? How many thousand metric tons of sugar do we still expect to produce? How soon can we expect milling to last?

With more realistic, updated data on production, SRA and sugar industry stakeholders can get a more enlightened understanding of the current production situation.

(For reactions and suggestions, email bbacaoco@yahoo.com.)