• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Crop damage due to dry spell in nine local government units in central and southern Negros has been pegged at P24.9 million as of Feb. 22, a report of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) showed.
In her report to Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, OPA officer-in-charge Dina Gensola said that the damage to rice crops has risen to P24.801 million while P157,852.80 to corn plantations.
The OPA also reported that the dry spell affected 581 farmers.
Fifth District Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo sounded an alarm on Tuesday (Feb. 27), reiterating his call on the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Regulatory Administration to start the conduct of cloudseeding operations.
The dry spell already affected 539 hectares of rice and corn in 55 barangays of Himamaylan City, Isabela, Binalbagan, Moises Padilla and Hinigaran in the fifth district as well as Cauayan, Hinobaan, Sipalay City and Ilog in the sixth district.
The “national government should step in”, Yulo said. | GB
