NIA: El Niño to affect 12,000 hectares of Ecija farms

PALAYAN CITY, Philippines – An estimated 12,558 hectares of agricultural lands in Nueva Ecija, the country’s rice granary, are in danger of being affected by the El Niño phenomenon during the last quarter of this year, according to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

Reynaldo Puno, operations manager of the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS) that runs the Pantabangan Dam, said the affected areas are in the four cities and 23 municipalities of the province.

During a water summit at the Nueva Ecija Convention Center here last Wednesday, Puno said among the cities at risk are Cabanatuan, Gapan, Muñoz and San Jose, while among the towns are Aliaga, Cabiao, Gen. Natividad, Guimba, Jaen, Llanera, Licab, Lupao, Quezon, San Leonardo, San Antonio, San Isidro, Sto. Domingo, Talavera, Talugtog and Zaragoza.

Of the province’s five component cities, only this city and four of 27 towns won’t feel the brunt of El Niño, he said.

The summit, sponsored by the provincial government, NIA and the Department of Agriculture, was meant to prepare the province against the effects of dry spell on food production and water supply.

Gov. Aurelio Umali, who presided over the summit, urged local chief executives and stakeholders to come up with ways to help mitigate the effects of El Niño.

Umali said the summit is important toward attaining food security because Nueva Ecija is not only the country’s rice granary, but also its food basket.

He said he has earmarked a portion of his confidential funds to help improve the flow of water in the Peñaranda River Irrigation System in the southern portion of the province and cushion the dry spell’s impact.

Umali said based on NIA estimates, the province would be able to cope with the drought if the water level at the Pantabangan Dam is maintained at 210 meters.

“Below that level, only 30 percent of the 119,224 hectares served by UPRIIS might be irrigated,” he said.

Last Wednesday, the water level at the dam was at 200.9 meters.

Puno said last month, the water level was at 183 meters, adding it rose to above 200 meters due to cloud seeding operations and a stop in the release of water during the rainy season.

NIA administrator Florencio Padernal Jr. said the agency is ready to deal with El Niño.

The summit was originally set last July but was postponed following the relief as UPRIIS chief of Josephine Salazar, who swapped posts with Puno, the former NIA Region 3 director.