• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
In the next two weeks, Negros and Panay islands will have rain showers as part of the 15-day cloudseeding operation that started June 11, said Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED).
In a statement, Lamata confirmed that the rain experienced in Bacolod City on Tuesday was induced through the cloudseeding operation they conducted.
The base of operation in Silay City, Negros Occidental includes personnel from the Philippine Air Force and the Bureau of Soils and Water Management, who have set up equipment to monitor cloud formation conducive for cloudseeding, he added.
Lamata said that they gather satellite data to get GPS (global positioning system) coordinates, which the pilots use to inject salt into the identified clouds to produce artificial rain that is very much needed in sugarcane fields due to the long El Niño spell, he added.
“We, at UNIFED, worked hard to convince the administration that we needed cloud seeding despite the hesitancy of government agencies because we are in the thick of planting canes now,” Lamata said.
He thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., and Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona for heeding their appeal.
The two planes of Lamata were contracted to conduct cloudseeding operations both in Negros Occidental and Panay.
He said that the farmers, especially the small planters who do not have irrigation systems in their field, will greatly benefit from the cloudseeding operations, which he initially described as successful. | GB
