Farmers brace for El Niño
STA. BARBARA–Farmers in Pangasinan
tilling lands outside the service areas of the Agno River Irrigation System
(ARIS) were advised to plant crops that need only little water to grow for the
duration of the mild El Niño phenomenon being experienced in Luzon.
Ernesto Pamuceno, former Provincial
Agrarian Reform Officer (PARO) of Pangasinan, now the provincial president of
the Pangasinan Irrigators Association Federation, advised affected farmers of
unirrigated lands to plant corn and vegetables that need only little water
to grow till they get harvested.
Pamuceno said farmers whose farmlands are getting water from ARIS that draw
year-round irrigation water from the San Roque dam, do not have any problem at
all today even if the effects of El Niño worsens.
There are more than 12,000 hectares
of land being serviced by ARIS and the Sinocalan River Irrigations System but
there are more lands that are not irrigated than those being irrigated which
are likely to suffer from water shortage.
He said month of May is the start of planting for wet season rice in Pangasinan
adding that the only problem foreseen is if ARIS schedules its
annual operations break from June 8 to 18 this year to allow little period
of adjustment.
He confirmed that the pump generators distributed by farmers by the Department
of Agriculture are helping them now to bail them out from the water crisis.
He said these pump generators have a depth of 20 meters where water can be
tapped.
A big help, too, he said, are the shallow tube wells distributed by the provincial government for farmers. (Leonardo Micua)
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