Lack of water threatens aggie

Orlando and Virginia Bernadino are rice farmers in the Philippine province of Bulacan, just north of the capital, Manila.

Like thousands of rice farmers around the world who benefit from modern irrigation schemes, they once took many things for granted: the fertility of their soil, an abundance of sunshine, a plentiful supply of water, and income from two crops per year.

Little did the Bernadinos suspect that they would become the harbingers of a modern-day crisis that may soon threaten the security of the world's vital irrigated rice crop.

El Niño arrived in 1997, and the wet-season rainfall over much of the Philippines was well below normal. As the 1998 dry season loomed, competition for the meager reserves of water in and around the Manila forced the government to act. Water from the Angat-Maasim Rivers Irrigation System, which normally nourishes the Bernadino's farm, was diverted to the homes and factories of the sprawling Philippine capital.

About 20,000 small farmers were forced to abandon their dry-season crop. Twenty-five thousand hectares of land lay parched and fallow; about 100,000 tons of precious high-quality rice production was lost.

For the farmers, the blow was crushing. Many turned to raising pigs and chickens but, as often as not, this was a failure because of extreme heat. More commonly, farmers resorted to informally borrowing money to support their families. As an emergency measure, the government provided a small allowance for farmers to work on maintaining the canals and channels of the irrigation system while they lay dry and empty, but this supported only a small percentage of them.

The Bernadinos were luckier than most. Their five children were grown and no longer depended on the farming income, and Virginia had long been part of a local cottage industry making shoulder bags and school bags. That activity earned them a small income.

But their 4.75 hectares were leased and their rent was paid in rice. Although they lost an entire crop, the rent for that season was still 2.3 tons of rice. They negotiated a time-payment arrangement, but it will be some years before they recover.

The year without irrigation water was not lost on the Philippine authorities. Work is under way to enhance the storage capacity of the Angat-Maasim system in the hope that future shortages can be avoided.