Bicol catastrophe looms as dry spell hits

LEGAZPI CITY—The dry spell has started to take its toll, affecting some

4,000 hectares of irrigated rice lands in Bicol, said an official of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

Eduardo Yu, NIA spokesperson, said they have received reports that the drought brought by the El Niño phenomenon has dried the rice fields served by NIA across the region.

He said for the first cropping season of this year, farmers complained of either low production or total crop failure due to water shortage spawned by the dry spell.

Yu said nearly half of the 4,000 hectares of farms in the region had total crop failure while the rest of the farms suffered declining harvests.

He said the NIA would adopt two measures to mitigate effects of the dry spell.

These include water rationing for farms and massive rehabilitation of irrigation facilities, he said.

Through water rationing, Yu said the NIA would schedule delivery of water to areas that need water most.

The NIA would supply water for four days to downstream areas or those far from the dam and three days to those upstream or near the dam, he said.

Yu said these methods would guarantee that all areas that the NIA seeks to irrigate for a particular cropping season are served with water. Areas outside of the NIA’s system would simply have to be told they cannot be given water, he added.

Yu said the yearly rehabilitation and repair of irrigation facilities and structures, which is being done by the NIA since 2010, is a long term measure.

He said funding for dry spell mitigating measures will come from NIA’s

P535.2-million budget for 2015.

The agency’s current budget is to be divided among 212 projects. At least 172 of these projects are communal irrigation systems while 40 are national irrigation systems.

He said the new projects would irrigate 378 ha of additional farms, restore irrigation service to 1,350 ha, and restore facilities in 2,191 ha of rice lands in the entire region.