Central Luzon gears up vs El Niño

City of San Fernando, Pampanga — Amid the looming El Niño phenomenon which is expected to intensify next year, the whole country is now focusing on the agricultural powerhouse that is Central Luzon.

Touted as the Rice Granary of the Philippines, the Central Plains of Luzon or Central Luzon for short, produces one-third of the country's rice and has been known for producing the most delicious rice variety in the country.

With El Niño threatening the water supply for the rice farms in Central Luzon, the government is doing everything they can to ensure that they have ample water supply for the region.

On 11 December, DAILY TRIBUNE reported that the National Irrigation Administration-Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems revealed that the Pantabangan Dam can only support 95,400 hectares of farmland this coming dry season.

This is a significant decrease in the 147,000 hectares target that the NIA aims to supply water, as the agency stressed that the Pantabangan Dam cannot supply water to the 50,400 hectares of farmlands in Nueva Ecija once the El Niño phenomenon is felt at the start of 2024 including areas in the towns of San Antonio, Licab and Zaragoza, including some farmlands in Tarlac and Pampanga.

To alleviate the burden of supplying water in Region 3, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inaugurated the Balbalungao Small Reservoir Irrigation Project in Lupao, Nueva Ecija on 13 December with the hopes of supplying water to 967.19 hectares of farm land in the aforementioned town.

However, it is anticipated that it is still not enough to provide much-needed water to Central Luzon especially since rain is scarcer than it was last year.

The Department of Science and Technology also provided a forecast that El Niño would peak in April this coming year, causing dry spells and drought and DoST Secretary Renato Solidum said that 63 provinces may experience severe drought conditions during El Niño.

He added that all provinces will be affected depending on the month, but the peak will be in April where 63 provinces will experience below rainfall levels of 21 percent lower.

To provide answers for the looming crisis, Marcos has revived the 2001 executive order creating the Task Force El Niño, which will be chaired by Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and co-chaired by Solidum.

The President aims to start preparations for the crisis early and resolve possible interventions, with Teodoro adding that the EO will create an interagency collaboration on a national level to answer potential problems caused by El Niño.

Teodoro, meantime, said that since the first responders will be the local government units, the DoST will inform them on the conditions whether or not they can declare a state of calamity and use their calamity funds.

With the impressive growth in rice production for the first six months of 2023, pundits mused that the next year would be a struggle.