(File photo)
MANILA – Some 250,000 hectares of land in several regions in the county are expected to be affected by the El Niño, according to National Irrigation Administration (NIA).
NIA head Eduardo Guillen said the area is 20 percent of the lands that they have irrigated.
“The vulnerable (areas) according to the weather bureau are Ilocos Region Central Luzon, Mimaropa, Soccsksargen, Western and Central Visayas and Zamboanga peninsula,” he said in an interview at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing.
At the same time, the NIA chief said they are coordinating with other agencies in a bid to minimize the effects of the natural phenomenon.
“The regional managers of the Department of Agriculture, NIA, we are planning right now, looking at where and what the farmers want to plant and what is a good variety, according to [the Philippine Rice Research Institute],” he added.
“The NIA makes the order of the farmers and we give it to the DA and it procures what they need,” the NIA official added.
Asked if the El Niño has already started, Guillen said, “We monitored it in areas in Visayas and Mindanao.”
“Eventually, we will be able to experience it. The probability is high come 2024,” he added.
The last time the country experienced El Niño was during the last quarter of 2018 until the third quarter of 2019. (PNA)
