CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) and six of its attached agencies are carrying out assorted intervention measures that include optimizing water delivery to irrigation systems and deploying mobile animal diagnostic laboratories to mitigate the impact of the El Niño dry spell on the farm sector.

DA Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said these measures will involve the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) as well as irrigators’ associations (IAs) in El Niño-affected areas; the Bureaus of Soils and Water Management (SWM), of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and of Animal Industry (BAI); National Food Authority (NFA); and the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI).

El Niño refers to the unusual warming of sea surface temperatures along the equatorial Pacific that is usually characterized by below-average rainfall, which leads to a dry spell.

Fondevilla said these mitigation measures were taken up during the latest meeting of the interagency task force that had been created by President Arroyo to work on intervention programs for this latest dry spell, which is expected to last till July.

“Although the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) foresees the El Niño attack to be a moderate one, the weather bureau has projected that it will last longer this time until July,” he said.

The DA’s regional field units (RFUs) will help implement some of these measures especially those that need close supervision at the municipal level, Fondevilla said.

“Such measures include scheduling the release of irrigation diversion equipment for the Angat Maasim River Irrigation System (AMRIIS), which will be implemented by the DA and NIA, and the linking of canals from the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (UPRIIS) to the Angat-Maasim Dam covering 6,000 hectares in Bulacan, to avoid delays in the planting season,” he said.  

He added that “the NIA will team up with IAs in optimizing water delivery and scheduling to national irrigation systems and rehabilitating existing irrigation canals through the drainage reuse system.”  

With the assistance of the Philippine Air Force, the BSWM is now carrying out seeding operations in critical drought areas, Fondevilla noted.