Baguio City — Several regional line agencies in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) are now bracing for the serious negative effects of the El Niño phenomenon which is now being slowly felt by some farmers in the different parts of the region.

In the case of the Cordillera office of the National Irrigation Administration
(NIA), it has already prepared and is now implementing its El Niño mitigation plan which includes the conduct of massive information and education campaign about the adverse effects of the phenomenon, implement equitable water distribution within their respective areas of coverage, and giving incentives through food for work scheme.

The NIA-CAR is also facilitating the construction of small water impounding projects, small farm reservoirs and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities.

El Niño is a Spanish phrase meaning the Christ child and was originally used by fishermen to refer to the warm currents of the Pacific Ocean near Peru and Equador that appear periodically during the Yuletide season and last for several months.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) revealed the region have already started feeling the effects of the El Niño phenomenon because of the lack of rain for the past three moths which could extend up to July this year.

For the Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture (DA), it has also initiated the construction and rehabilitation of appropriate sources of water to irrigate the additional lands being planted by rice, corn, high value crops and other products being produced in the different parts of the region.

The crafting of the El Niño mitigation plan is in compliance to the marching order of the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) for all local governments and concerned government agencies to come out with climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction measures to ensure the protection of crops from being heavily devastated by the prolonged drought.

The Cordillera, particularly Benguet, Mountain Province, and Ifugao, remain the primary source of vegetables distributed nationwide while Kalinga, Ifugao, and Mountain Province also serve as the sources of the native rice exported to the United States.

The RDC-CAR endorsed the release of P454.4 million as fund requirement for the region’s El Niño mitigation plan.