CAUAYAN CITY, Isabela – The Department of Agriculture said Region 2 or Cagayan Valley has sustained P180 million in damage to corn from the El Niño phenomenon.
DA-Region 2 El Niño Action Officer Paul Vincent Balao said 8,737 hectares of rain-fed farms planted to corn were partially damaged and 276 hectares were totally damaged.
Balao said farmers harvested or recovered more than 50 percent of corn in partially damaged farms. However, in totally damaged farms, farmers recovered 10 percent to nothing.
To mitigate the effects of El Niño, Balao said that cloud-seeding operations in some parts of Cagayan Valley are ongoing.
The State weather bureau said that 240, 000 hectares of farmlands were affected due to the dry spell in the northern portion of Isabela and southern portion of Cagayan.
DA-Region 2 in coordination with the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is targeting 75 cloud-seeding operations for two months to save the more or less 900, 000 hectares of corn under vegetative and reproductive stage in southern part of Cagayan, northern Isabela, and Nagtipunan, Quirino.
Balao remains optimistic that Cagayan Valley can still harvest one million metric tons of corn this cropping season despite El Niño or any calamity.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 2 has prepositioned medicines in their provincial offices against dengue, chikungunya, cholera, heat stroke, typhoid fever, and leptospirosis this dry season.