MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture on Saturday said that cloud seeding operations in areas affected by the ongoing dry spell will have to stop this weekend.

“We need to have a cloud cover [to do cloud seeding operations]. By March there will be no more clouds to seed,” Agriculture Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla, chief of the government’s El Niño Task Force, told radio dzMM.

Fondevilla explained that cloud seeding operations require cumulus clouds, which, he said, becomes rare during the month of March.

The official said that the cloud seeding operations would wrap up this weekend.

He said cloud seeding operations conducted 2 weeks ago also failed to cushion the effects of the El Niño phenomenon in several areas around the country.

He said that since the reactivation of the El Niño task force last January, cloud seeding operations were conducted in the provinces of Isabela, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino in Luzon; Iloilo, Negros provinces in the Visayas and some parts of Mindanao, particularly in Lanao provinces.

The government expects the amount of damage to crops by the El Niño to reach P7 billion.

Fondevilla said that more than 200,000 metric tons of palay have been lost because of the dry spell and they expect the damage to reach to more than 300,000 metric tons.

2 storms ahead

Prisco Nilo, chief of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astrological Services Administration (PAGASA), said that historically at least 2 storms pass by the Philippines during May.

Nilo said that the storms will bring rains, but it might not be enough to cure the dried up farmlands becaue they will not directly hit the country.

“Based on historical data storms pass by during May, but these storms do not usually hit land because of a week high pressure area,” he said.

The PAGASA chief said that aside from the 2 storms, the country may start experiencing scattered and one-hour rainshowers in May, which would still not be enough to fill up water reserves in Luzon, including Magat and Pantabangan dams that supply irrigation water to farmlands in Bulacan and Pangasinan provinces.

The PAGASA had said that the dry spell may last and worsen by June, right before the rainy season.
Nilo added that they are predicting a late onset of the southwest monsoon, which bring rains, usually during June.

He said significant amounts of rainfalls may come by late June or early July.

The government had said that at least 14 provinces in Luzon and the Visayas are affected by the dry spell.

Several provinces in Luzon have declared a state calamity because of the dry spell’s effects on crops and animals.