MANILA, Philippines?A possible drought caused by the El Niño weather system could slash Philippines rice yields this year, the government warned Tuesday, as Manila prepared to deal with any possible crisis.

Government models project 2010 rice harvests would be trimmed by up to 816,312 tons if a severe drought strikes, Agriculture Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said. The fall would be equivalent to five percent of last year's entire yield.

This would be on top of 449,429 tons reduction in corn, 42,362 tons of fish and other marine catch, and 3.08 million tons of other crops, he said in a statement.

El Niño is an occasional seasonal warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean that upsets normal weather patterns from the western seaboard of Latin America to east Africa, and potentially has a global impact on climate.

In the case of a mild El Niño, the Agriculture department estimates losses of about 265,000 tons of unmilled rice, about 174,000 tons of corn, 21,000 tons of fish and other catch, and 3.17 million tons of other crops.

The government's weather service says the dry spell is likely to extend to the middle of the year but be moderate, he added.

The Philippines, the world's biggest importer of rice, started to ramp up imports of the grain with a series of large tenders in the last two months of 2009.

And Fondevilla said the government would also invest P1.7 billion (36.56 million dollars) to help farmers.

These funds would include spraying clouds with chemicals to induce rain as well as provide extra irrigation facilities.