At last, natural rains fall in southern C. Valley

At last, natural rains fall in southern C. Valley

By CHARLIE C. LAGASCA

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Before, they prayed for an end to the torrential rains, and so, the long dry spell came. Now that they're again praying for rain again, will the floods be far behind?

 

As if in answer to the prayers, the first more-than-an-hour-long non-stop natural rainfall in about two months fell in this southern part of Cagayan Valley starting the other day (5 Aug.).

 

Local agriculture officials said that significant hectares of dried rice fields, especially in this capital town and in neighboring towns of Solano, Bagabag and Villaverde basically got their first taste of natural rainfall after almost two 'rainless' months  

 

Dr. Gumersindo Lasam, director of the Department of Agriculture for Cagayan Valley, said that they have been conducting cloud seeding operations since last week to create artificial rainfall so as to cushion the impact of the prolonged dry spell in the region, which is now practically under the state of calamity as a result of the said catastrophe.

 

"Let's pray for more rains to come and that we won't be needing cloud seeding operations anymore," said Lasam.

 

Government weather officials said that the natural rainfall which came out the other day could be a positive sign that rains would start to fall at last. Earlier, the government's Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, Astronomical and Scientific Administration forecasted that at least two typhoons are expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility, particularly in Northern Luzon .

 

"Thanks God, it's raining. At least our dried farmlands had somehow rejuvenated," said Manong Adong, a rice farmer in Solano town.

 

But before everybody could start jumping with joy about it, yesterday's natural rains didn't make any significant difference in the areas that mattered most, like the Magat dam in neighboring Isabela province, which provides irrigation waters to more than 100,000 hectares of farmlands in the region, with Isabela, the country's topmost rice and corn producing province, the biggest beneficiary of the dam's irrigation services.

 

Despite this fact, the farmers in the province were still happy concerning the rains, believing this will in a way help alleviate their dying crops.

 

"Hopefully, the rains are a sign that things are already back to normal and that we will still be able to have a bumper harvest," said Manong Tino of Villaverde town, which is one of the drought-hit areas in this landlocked province, considered to be the region's vegetable capital.

 

But in other provinces like Isabela, the rains appear only to have fallen within the general area of the southern parts of the region and barely if ever reached the vicinity of the Magat dam.

 

The two-month dry spell has already affected almost P1-billion worth of agricultural crops throughout the region, with the biggest cost of damage recorded in Isabela province with some P300,000 worth of rice, corn and other crops, including fishery resources destroyed, followed by Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino.

 

The second-biggest province in the country and its biggest rice and corn producer per hectare, Isabela was the second province in Northern Luzon to have been declared under a state of calamity after the province of La Union in the Ilocos region.

 

After Isabela, the other provinces of the region consequently were likewise declared under state of calamity by their provincial governments, beginning with Cagayan Gov. Alvaro Antonio, followed by Quirino Gov. Dakila Cua while Nueva Vizcaya Gov. Luisa Cuaresma is expected to issue a calamity state declaration anytime within the week.

 

Quirino alone lost more than P60 million worth of crops due to the extended drought, but "This figure may and will probably increase if drought sustains. We passed a resolution upon my motion to seek aid from (the) national government and realign their programs to address the imminent calamity in Cagayan Valley ," Cua said.

 

Likewise, Nueva Vizcaya, considered to be the region's vegetable capital, is losing close to P100 million worth of damaged crops due to drought.

 

"We are still collating data to be presented to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) before we would formally declare the province under the state of calamity," she said.

 

Over the week, the Regional Development Council led by Bishop Villena called on President Arroyo for the immediate release of funds for the drought-stricken areas in the region.  Such assistance would be utilized for repair of irrigation facilities, fund assistance for affected farmers, further conduct of cloud seeding operations and other related programs and activities.

 

The long dry spell, which earlier brought the Magat dam in Ramon, Isabela to a critical water level, the first time in seven years, had affected more than 100,000 hectares of agricultural lands, both irrigated and rain fed, in the region.

 

Cagayan Valley's four mainland provinces - Isabela, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino – account for at least 40 percent of the country's palay and corn production. CCL