Due to the continuous decline in the water level of the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija, some farmlands in Central Luzon aren't able to be reached by water irrigation facilities.
In a radio interview on Wednesday, a key official from the National Irrigation Authority said that at present, an area of seven hectares in Central Luzon is unirrigated.
“Pero nag-aani naman, ang napansin namin, ang average yield ng aming mga farmers ngayon ay nasa 8 tons, so maganda pa ang yield namin ngayon (We are harvesting, and what we noticed is that the average yield of our farmers now is around 8 tons, so our yield is still good at present),” said NIA Administrator, Engr. Eduardo Guillen.
He noted that during the dry season, the palay yield is higher, assuring that the onslaught of El Niño will not affect the food supply in the country.
“Ang totoo nga po niyan, kung meron lang sana tayong kumpletong patubig mas gusto pa naming may El Niño para mas maaraw at mas marami kaming yield (The truth is, if only we had complete irrigation, we would prefer to have El Niño so that we have more sun and more yield).”
Gullien said that the NIA’s budget increased during the Marcos administration, resulting in more irrigated lands being turned over to farmers this year.
“This year, aabot kami ng 50,000 hectares na i-turn over namin. Mas marami ngayon, dati nasa 20,000 lang (This year, we will reach 50,000 hectares that we will turn over. There are more now, before there were only 20,000),” he added.
The state weather bureau, PAGASA, reported earlier that a total of 41 provinces are currently affected by El Niño, and Nueva Ecija is among the provinces experiencing drought.
Based on PAGASA’s latest dam monitoring, the reservoir water level, or RWL, of the Panatabangan Dam is 188.08 meters, a -0.31 decrease from the 188.39 meters RWL logged the previous day.
Its current RWL is -32.92 short of its normal high water level of 221.00 meters.
Meanwhile, the RWL of the Angat Dam, which provides potable water to the majority of Metro Manila areas and nearby provinces, was also earlier reported to be in a downward trend, yet the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System assured that its water is still sufficient.
MWSS Department Manager Patrick James Dizon said that the Angat Dam's water level is dropping at an average of 17 centimeters per day, noting that a drop in water level is normal due to a lack of rain in the watershed.
Other Luzon dams that registered a decrease in RWL on Wednesday are the La Mesa Dam, Ambuklao Dam, San Roque Dam, Magat Dam, and Caliraya Dam.