Cloud seeding mulled amid El Niño

As the onslaught of El Niño continues to affect crops in various areas of the country, due to a lack of water, the Department of Agriculture is planning to conduct a cloud seeding operation as a mitigating measure.

In Region II, or Cagayan Valley, crops in Laoag City are being harvested earlier to save them from withering.

According to Australia’s Water Corporation, “cloud seeding is the process of artificially generating rain by implanting clouds with particles such as silver iodide crystals.”

"Ang asin ay hygroscopic in nature. Pag sinabi po nating 'hygroscopic,' it has the ability to attract moisture. Kung 'yung asin dini-dispense natin sa taas, pagdating sa taas, mag-attract nang mag-aattract siya ng moisture," (Salt is hygroscopic in nature. When we say 'hygroscopic,' it has the ability to attract moisture. If we dispense the salt at a height when it reaches the height, it will attract moisture) explained PAGASA assistant weather services chief Engr. Lorenzo Moron to GMA News.

Moron, however, noted that not all clouds have moisture content, and there are dry clouds, saying that even if kilos of salt is poured yet the clouds are dry, it will have no effect.

Meanwhile, two municipalities in Mindoro Province are planning to declare the hard-hit areas under a state of calamity as the weather phenomenon continues to incur damage and losses to their crops, mainly rice, corn, and vegetables.

According to the Municipal Agriculture Office, or MAO, over 500 hectares of rice farmland in the municipality of Bulalacao in Oriental Mindoro have dried up, and even the river responsible for irrigation also now lacks water.

MAO’s data showed that the onslaught of El Niño has caused P60 million worth of damage to onions and P25 million worth of value loss to rice in the said area.

The Bulalacao Public Information Office said to the DAILY TRIBUNE that they still await the release of a Sannguning Bayan Resolution to declare a state of calamity in their municipality.

Meanwhile, Looc Mayor Marlon Dela Torre of Occidental Mindoro on Monday appealed to the government for rice aid as farmers in his municipality continue to suffer agricultural damage and losses.

He said that the majority of their crops can no longer be harvested since their farmlands are already dry.

In addition, besides the weak supply of water from their river, Dela Torre said that they also don't have an impounding area.

“I am worried about my townsmen; they will have to endure for several months because we have no more rice to buy here in the town of Looc. That's the sad thing; we are the producers [of rice], but we have nothing to eat because of the effect of El Niño. That's what we need—a supply of rice,” said Dela Torre.