NIA identifying priority areas, employing alternate method to address El Niño

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) on Thursday said it has prepared measures to address El Niño's threat to water supply, which could impact the country's crop sector.

Interviewed on PTV’s Public Briefing, NIA Administrator Eduardo Guillen said the agency is working closely with the Department of Agriculture to identify "target areas for farm clustering" to be prioritized for irrigation.

"Ia-identify ng NIA ang mga lugar na kaya nating patubigan (The NIA will identify areas we can irrigate)," Guillen said.

The NIA official added that, apart from identifying priority areas for irrigation, high-yielding crops should be planted. 

For areas that will not be prioritized, Guillen proposes the planting of high-yielding crop varieties such as corn, which needs less water to grow than rice.

The NIA is also implementing an alternate wetting and drying system that uses 30% less water than traditional irrigation methods, according to Guillen.

"May bago kaming technology o sistema sa nia na pinapatupad. Tinatawag namin na Alternate Wetting Agrarian System (We are implementing a new technology or system. We call it Alternate Wetting Agrarian System)," he said.

The alternate wetting and drying technique is a water-saving technology that can reduce irrigation water use in rice fields without decreasing yield.

In this method, irrigation water is applied a few days after the disappearance of ponded water, making the field alternately flooded and non-flooded, which can vary from one to more than 10 days depending on various factors.

In July, the state weather bureau PAGASA declared the onset of the El Niño phenomenon in the Tropical Pacific, saying that its effects are now expected in the Philippines.

PAGASA also said that the current El Niño is "weak" but shows signs of reaching a "strong" level by November to January 2023.

By the end of December, 36 provinces are expected to experience a dry spell, while two provinces are forecast to experience drought, which means three consecutive months of rainfall conditions with over 60% reduction from the average rainfall or five consecutive months of rainfall conditions with 21% to 60% reduction, according to PAGASA. — VBL, GMA Integrated News