5,000 hectares of corn farms dry up

ILAGAN CITY—At least 5,000 hectares of corn farms in Isabela have started to wilt due to the lack of rain and the extreme heat in the province in the past weeks, an agriculture official said.

Danilo Tumamao, Isabela agriculture officer, said wilting was observed in the northern areas of the capital Ilagan City and the towns of Tumauini, Cabagan, San Pablo and Santa Maria and the eastern towns of Mallig and Quezon.

Tumamao said intermittent rains have started falling in the southern and western towns of the province so they are hoping that crops there would recover.

He said they project a 70-percent recovery rate for farms in the province’s northern and eastern areas if rains would fall in the next two weeks.

Scarce rain

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has declared the onset of the rainy season despite the scarcity of rain and the extreme heat still being experienced in the province and other parts of Cagayan Valley.

Tumamao briefed the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council (PDRRMC) on the status of Isabela’s corn farms.

He said the Isabela government has yet to allocate financial assistance to affected farmers because the damage has been considered as minimal compared to last year when about 30,000 ha of corn farms wilted due to severe drought.

Tumamao said the Department of Agriculture in the province assisted corn farmers last year through seed subsidies.

“We hope that it will rain hard so our plants can have a chance to recover,” said Lucio Bayucan, a corn farmer of Barangay (village) Calamagui 1st in Ilagan.

Dam not full

In Bulacan, the province has been experiencing rains in the past few days, but the amount of rainfall was not enough to raise the water elevation at Angat Dam. The dam is the main water source of Metro Manila’s households and businesses.

Administrators of the facility recorded water elevation there at 188.39 meters above sea level on Tuesday, down from its full capacity of 210 masl in March and 193 masl recorded on May 21.

Rodolfo German, general manager of Angat Hydro Electric Power Plant, said while rains are pouring in other areas of Bulacan, it is seldom raining in Angat’s watershed area in the Sierra Madre ranges in Norzagaray town.

German said the water level in Angat was high in March and April because of heavy rains early this year.

“Even if rain is scarce in Hilltop, the current water level is still higher by at least 10 meters than that recorded in past years. Our records showed that in June in previous years, the water level would drop to 180 masl,” he said.

Wrong places

Strong rains in the province have been concentrated in urban and populated areas, and not in mountain and watershed areas that feed Bulacan’s waterways.

Despite the low water level in Angat Dam, German has assured Metro Manila residents and businesses of continuous water supply.

He said when the elevation drops to 180 masl, the supply for irrigation is temporarily cut and dam managers retain the supply of water for Metro Manila. Reports from Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon