Provincial Governor Isidro P. Zayco has asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo the amount of P59 million to help mitigate the impact of the climatic El Niño phenomenon to the most basic agricultural crops in the province.

Zayco submitted his request to the President yesterday when she was here for the Cyber Corridor or Information Technology Legacy where she visited Teleperformance in the City.

Zayco told the President that Negros Occidental is one of the many provinces whose agricultural production has always been affected by the so-called El Niño phenomenon.

"With the recurrence of this phenomenon, the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental acted on it by the adoption of mitigating measures like cloud-seeding to combat the possible effects of El Niño. We have started our cloud seeding operation last February 1, 2010," he said.

However, due to the limited resources of the province, "We are asking for your help and assistance by funding the following program and projects that could minimize the adverse effects of this phenomenon to the province."

The breakdown of Zayco’s request include: P2 million for Cloud-Seeding Augmentation; P7 million for Shallow Tube Well; P10 million for the Agri-Aqua Input Assistance; P30 million for the Rehabilitation of Irrigation Facilities and P10 million for the Alternative Livelihood Assistance.

Moreover, Provincial Agriculturist Igmedio J. Tabianan submitted a report to Governor Zayco regarding the damage to major agricultural crops caused by the drought.

As of February 2, 2010, four municipalities were hit by drought and caused a damage to rice and corn crops reaching P2,370,160.00.

These towns are Murcia, Himamaylan, Cauayan and La Castellana.

Murcia’s corn production was hit by drought and damaged about 36 hectares with a value of P1,296,000.00. Its rain-fed rice production is 50% partially damaged with a financial value of P182,000.00.

Himamaylan’s rainfed 12-hectare rice production was 20% partially damaged.

Cauayan’s 1-hectare rain fed rice was totally damaged with P36,400.00 damage.

Its 58-hectare corn production was 30% partially damaged with a damage cost of P624,400.00.

The 4-hectare corn production in La Castellana was totally damaged with P144,000.00.*