- GILBERT BAYORAN
Provincial Administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, has required the Office of the Provincial Agriculture to come up with detailed plans on how to minimize the effects of El Niño to farmers in Negros Occidental.
The OPA proposed a budget of P15 million to mitigate the effects of the dry spell to Negrense farmers.
Diaz, however, described the proposal of OPA, headed by Edmundo Raul Causing, as “so vague, so generalized”.
The provincial administrator said he wanted the OPA to list the areas that could possibly be affected by El Niño and the interventions to be implemented.
Causing earlier said that they already conducted a survey on big areas of rice fields and met with farmers to listen to their plans and suggestions in minimizing the effects of the dry spell, and how the provincial government can help them.
“We will not just give them the P15 million if they are not ready with their research. They have to go to areas where there is a problem on water irrigation,” Diaz stressed after scrutinizing the OPA project proposal.
Negros Occidental 5th District Rep. Emilio Yulo III earlier called on the Department of Agriculture, Sugar Regulatory Administration, and the provincial government to conduct cloud-seeding operations to combat the ongoing dry spell.
Sharing the sentiments of Yulo, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said that cloud-seeding is one of the options to alleviate the dry condition, pointing out that there are still cloud covers and some Negros areas are even experiencing rainfall.
While there is an amount for intervention, Diaz said they will not let go of the money if there is no clear direction on where the intervention is going to be./GB
