Temperature still rising in Metro

MANILA, Philippines – Metro Manila’s temperature soared to 36.6 degrees Celsius yesterday.

It is the hottest recorded so far this year, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

It recorded the warmest temperature at the Science Garden in Quezon City at 3:50 p.m.

Yesterday’s temperature surpassed the previous hottest weather recorded in the capital last May 11 at 36.5 degrees Celsius.

PAGASA warned of hotter temperatures in the coming days due to the ridge of high pressure area.

Robert Sawi, PAGASA weather division chief, said Metro Manila residents can still expect the temperature to hit 37 degrees Celsius before the end of the month.

So far, the country’s hottest temperature was 39.7 degrees Celsius recorded in Echague, Isabela last May 15.

Gov’t ready for dry spell

The government is ready for the dry spell expected to adversely affect the farm sector in the fourth quarter of the year.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said they have introduced drought tolerant crop varieties to farmers like sorghum, cassava and sweet potato.

Rice farmers have also been advised to plant drought-tolerant rice varieties, he added.

Alcala said the Department of Agriculture (DA) is also looking at giving subsidies to farmers who would plant rice in the next cropping cycle.

“The National Rice Program is studying this,” he said. “We can identify locations that would be suitable for growing hybrid rice so that production would not suffer.”

The country would have enough rice buffer stock for the lean season of July to September as rice imported by the National Food Authority from Vietnam would start arriving this month, he added.

Alcala said the preservation of water sources and irrigation infrastructure is crucial to the growth of the farm sector this year.

“We are putting in place policy initiatives, water management and conservation measures, as well as modern and innovative farming and fishery technologies to somehow soften the effects of the of this dry weather,” he said.

Repairs of damaged irrigation dams and canals are also underway, as well as the construction of additional shallow tube wells, small water impounding projects, diversion dams and other small-scale irrigation projects, Alcala said.

Other defenses against the prolonged dry spell include the buffer stoking of seeds and early planting of crops.

The DA would be needing an initial budget of P1.61 billion for these interventions. Of this, P764.3 million is readily available, while the remaining P842.6 million would be sourced from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

As of this month, damage and losses to the crop subsector as a result of moisture stress are valued at P823.28 million, covering 34,057 hectares in four regions: Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, Mimaropa, and Bicol.

Crop damage was attributed to moisture stress and covers rice, corn and vegetables.

Dwindling water reserves in major reservoirs is a challenge to the farm sector.

As early as March, the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) carried out cloud seeding operations to induce rainfall in major watersheds. Cloud seeding will be undertaken this month in Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Isabela to raise the water level in Angat and Magat Dams.

Cloud seeding is the process of spreading either dry ice or, more commonly, silver iodide aerosols, into the upper part of clouds to induce rain.

Water level drops

The water level in Magat Dam continued to drop following the suspension of cloud seeding operations over Nueva Vizcaya. It has been below the normal level since last month.

Engineer Saturnino Tenedor of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said the dam’s water level was at 167.5 meters as of yesterday, or four centimeters lower than last Sunday’s 167.9 meters. The dam’s reported normal level should be at least 180 meters.

Located along the Isabela-Ifugao border, the three-decade-old dam had its all-time low of 149 meters recorded in July 1991.

Cloud seeding has been suspended after a private light aircraft conducting the operation crashed in a cornfield in Bagabag town in Nueva Vizcaya last April 27.

The crash killed the pilot and three cloud seeding specialists from the BSWM.

Despite the dam’s below normal water level, authorities said that it is still capable to generate power for the Luzon grid.

Aside from providing irrigation to some 80,000 hectares of farmlands in Isabela and parts of Quirino and Cagayan, the dam also generates at least 380 megawatts (MW) of power, the second biggest power provider among hydro-dams in the Luzon grid.

SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP), a Filipino-Norwegian consortium, has owned and operated the dam’s power component since 2007.

Its irrigation facility remains under NIA.

Air Force ready to help

The Air Force is ready to provide a plane and technical personnel for the government’s cloud seeding operations.

Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Enrico Canaya said the BSWM has sought the help of their technicians in conducting cloud seeding. “We have personnel who have background on how to conduct cloud-seeding so they requested our personnel to join,” he said. –Helen Flores, Czeriza Valencia, Charlie Lagasca, Alexis Romero, (The Philippine Star)