The Bago River Irrigation System, Negros Occidental’s major irrigation system, is now at a low water level because of the ongoing drought due to the El Niño phenomenon.
Pedro Limpangog, president of the Federation of Irrigators Association Central Negros- Bago River Irrigation System (FIACN-BRIS), said that water continues to be delivered to rice farms in Bago City and neighboring Murcia town
He also said that rice in the southern area of BRIS was already harvested.
However, five hectares of rice land have dried up because of the drought, Limpangog said.
San Enrique town, which is at the far end of the irrigation system, has already declared a state of calamity after Mayor Jillson Tubillara said that as a rice-producing town, they are badly hit by the ongoing drought.
"Our irrigation system has no water anymore. Our farmers cannot afford to put up their water pumps for their farms," he pointed out.
The drought has also affected 90 percent of the agricultural lands in San Enrique, he added.
Some rice farmers have shifted to planting watermelons, and fishponds have been converted into salt beds to make ends meet, he said.
Earlier, the mayor said that nine of the town's villages have been affected by the drought.
Tubillara said the municipal government has recorded a total of P9,951,589.70 in losses to its agriculture sector, especially rice fields, sugar plantations, and the drying up of fish ponds.
The BRIS serves irrigators associations in six local government units, comprising the FIACN, including the cities of Bago and La Carlota as well as the municipalities of Murcia, Valladolid, San Enrique, and Pulupandan, with a total program area of 10,920 hectares.*