The El Niño dry spell has damaged P167 million worth of sugarcane crops in Negros provinces, the Sugar Regulatory Administration said.
SRA said the amount of crop damage as of Jan. 25 was reported in sugarcane-growing areas in Negros island due to the intense heat.
SRA said to help the sugarcane farmers, it budgeted P25.9 million for nationwide cloud-seeding operations.
Cloud seeding refers to the technique of dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei to induce rainfall.
SRA said for Negros and Panay alone, some P7.4 million was allotted by the agency, for a total of 60 hours each
Focus areas of the cloud-seeding operations in Luzon are the provinces of Batangas, Camarines Sur, Tarlac, Pampanga and Cagayan Valley while in Mindanao, the focus areas are Davao del Sur and Cotabato.
SRA said it was continuously coordinating with the Bureau of Soil and Water Management and the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist of Negros Occidental for the documentary and logistical requirements for the cloud-seeding operations.
The Negros Occidental Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council passed a resolution endorsing a multi-government agency project proposal on cloud-seeding operations.
SRA also requested the technical personnel of the BSWM, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, to conduct an assessment and validation of the areas targeted for cloud-seeding operations.