Heads up for El Niño

AFTER the devastating typhoons last year, our country, especially the agricultural areas such as Pangasinan, must now brace for the expected El Niño phenomenon.

This weather pattern — wherein there is reduced rainfall, extreme rise in temperature, and possibly a prolonged dry season — threatens our agricultural output, particularly our staple rice. Already, the government has had to import 2 million metric tons of rice since November last year to augment the supply that could have come from crops that were destroyed by the series of typhoons last year. We may recall that in 1998, the mild El Niño that hit the country cost us more than 2 million tons of rice.

We can’t stop El Niño from happening, but we definitely can prepare for it.

The national government, through its various agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and the National Irrigation Administration, have already initiated some programs to cushion the blow of El Niño, but local government units should take a more proactive role in helping farmers contend with this pending environmental crisis.

Among the steps that could be taken by local government unit leaders is checking the status of irrigation facilities, especially those that were destroyed by Typhoon “Pepeng”. Coordination efforts need to be taken if repairs are necessary to ensure that the limited water supply is made available to the farms. If funding for maintenance jobs is an issue, communities could perhaps be mobilized for some volunteer work. The LGUs working with the people could accomplish more.

Water rationing has also been mapped out by NIA in some areas and farming communities must cooperate with the scheme. Cloud seeding operations may also help.

Aside from agriculture, ground water supply is also under threat. This is a critical concern especially for the province’s towns and cities along the coast. In the long term, the provincial government’s recent move to tap the San Roque Multi Purpose Dam for household water supply is a step in the right direction. In the meantime, the LGUs can launch campaigns to educate communities on the need to conserve water. People need to break free from the attitude that water supply is boundless. Our sources are depleting, we need to learn to manage our supply.

We can minimize the impact of El Niño this year with concerted effort. And while doing that, we must not forget that extreme climatic changes will continue to threaten us in the future and we do need an unwavering effort to address this. There must be a continuing policy and plans of action for managing the farms, taking care of our forests and mangroves, and protecting our aquatic resources.

Back to Homepage

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments