The National Irrigation Authority reported Wednesday that only a minimal portion of the country's irrigated farmlands were affected by the onslaught of El Niño.

In a televised interview, an NIA key official said that those farmers in the projected affected areas have also been advised beforehand by the government to do diversified cropping.

“Kasi ang talaga namin noon is that aabot nang 20% sa irrigated areas natin ang vulnerable sa El Niño. Pero dahil doon sa technique namin na AWD o iyong Alternate Wetting and Drying na kung saan nakakatipid tayo nang 20 to 30 percent sa patubig natin ay minimal kung tutuusin ang tinamaan dito sa ating irrigated areas,” said NIA Administrator, Engr. Eduardo Guillen.

(Because what we really knew then is that 20% of our irrigated areas are vulnerable to El Niño. But because of our AWD technique, or Alternate Wetting and Drying, where we save 20 to 30 percent in our irrigation, the damage to our irrigated areas is minimal.)

He added that irrigation systems in the Magat and Angat dams have also been supplied with water.

“Itong Magat Dam natin ay awa naman ng Diyos napatubigan namin lahat iyan, itong MARIIS (Magat River Integrated Irrigation System) area. Ito naman sa Angat Dam, iyong firmed-up service area niya, napatubigan din namin lahat,” he said.

(The Magat Dam, by the grace of God, we were able to irrigate all of that, this MARIIS (Magat River Integrated Irrigation System) area. As for Angat Dam, its firmed-up service area, we also irrigated everything.)

“Ang naging problema talaga namin itong Pantabangan natin—halos kalahati nito ay ang vulnerable noon, 50,000 hectares,” he added, noting that only 7,000 hectares of the said area were not irrigated.

(The real problem we had with our Patabangan [dam[—almost half of it was vulnerable before, 50,000 hectares.)

Meanwhile, he described the situation in Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro, as ‘unfortunate,’ noting that the province recorded 90 hectares of crop areas affected.

“Talagang biglang nawala iyong tubig doon sa ilog, pati kami ay nabigla,” said Guillen.

(The water in the river suddenly disappeared, and we were also shocked.)

In response, he said that the NIA has already sent a backhoe and water pump to aid the farmers in securing water for their farmlands.

“Sa kalahatan naman, tantiya namin ay wala pang around one percent lang ang affected doon sa area namin. Of the 20 percent na projected namin, around one percent lamang sa total area ng firmed-up service area ng NIA ang affected,” he added.

(In general, we estimate that less than one percent are affected in our area. Of the 20 percent that we projected, only around one percent of the total area of ​​the firmed-up service area of ​​the NIA was affected.)

The municipality of Bulalacao was declared under a state of calamity on 26 February 2024, as their farmers continued to battle with immense agricultural damages and losses, along with cracks in their farmlands.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported on Wednesday that due to El Niño, the production loss of the country’s agriculture sector is now hitting over P1 billion.