Prepare for prolonged drought, Ilocos Norte farmers warned

By Leilanie G. Adriano

Staff Reporter

Ilocos Norte farmers were advised to prepare for the upcoming El Niño phenomenon—a prolonged drought.

On May 6, provincial agriculturist Norma Lagmay reported that they have convened a meeting with all local government units in the province to prepare for the impact of the prolonged drought. She added that they also looked for possible mitigating measures for the phenomenon.

The searing heat currently felt however is “still an ordinary climate for us,” Lagmay said.

Lagmay also disclosed that farmers’ classes and training workshops are being conducted in all the towns and cities in the province. The workshops aim to continually inform and educate farmers as it also urge them to avoid burning of farm wastes, which is contributory to the rise in temperatures.

Earlier this month, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA) warned all concerned stakeholders about the coming of drought which may be felt starting this June.

“El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific (CEEP),” PAG-ASA said.

Base on the El Nino watch issued by PAG-ASA, the sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) over the tropical Pacific remained to be El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)—neutral during the past several months. The established threshold of SSTA for an El Niño phenomenon is 0.5°C or higher during a three-month period.

PAGASA has already noted significant increase in the SSTA from 0.2 to 0.4°C from April 21 to April 28, 2014.

Because of this development and as climate models predict that this condition may persist for the next nine months, PAGASA is foreseeing the onset of El Niño in June which may peak during the last quarter of 2014 and may last up to the first quarter of 2015.

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