BACOLOD CITY – A lawmaker representing the fifth district of Negros Occidental has appealed to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to assist  farmers affected by the El Niño in the province.

Rep. Emilio Yulo III met Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III during the distribution of over 4,000 land titles to 2,797 agrarian reform beneficiaries in Bago City on Monday, April 8.

AGRARIAN Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III speaks during a press briefing in Bago City, Negros Occidental following the distribution of over 4,000 land titles to 2,797 agrarian reform beneficiaries on Monday, April 8. (Glazyl Masculino)

Yulo stressed that the fourth, fifth, and sixth districts of the province were greatly affected by the extreme heat that severely affected farmers, especially those with no capacities for irrigation and other facilities to combat the dry spell.

He recalled that the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) denied their request to conduct cloud-seeding operations in the province, citing a lack of seedable clouds despite local officials’ claims that rain clouds are present.

Local officials asked the BSWM to reconsider its decision as it is one of the measures to aid the farmers affected by drought especially in the southern part of the province.

“Gusto lang namon ipabatyag sa pumuluyo sang probinsya na gatinguha kita (We want to let the people of Negros know that we're doing something about it),” Yulo said.

The drought has affected 2,585 farmers in 20 localities in the province, damaging P97,788,037 worth of crops, as of April 2. 

Damage to rice crops was pegged at P93,050,227, and corn, at P4,737,809, according to the Office of the Provincial Agriculture.

Estrella said that he will immediately relay these concerns to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel as their offices work hand-in-hand for the welfare of the farmers.

Yulo said they are ready to offer further input to the Department of Agriculture (DA) and hopes for a receptive audience to address the crisis.