VIGAN CITY — The Department of Agriculture (DA) and six of its attached agencies are carrying out several intervention measures to mitigate the impact of the El Niño dry spell on the farm sector in Ilocos region and other vulnerable areas.

The measures include optimizing water delivery to irrigation systems and deploying mobile animal diagnostic laboratories in the region.

DA Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said these measures will involve the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) as well as irrigators' associations (IAs) in El Niño-affected areas; the Bureaus of Soils and Water Management (SWM); Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR); Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI); National Food Authority (NFA); and the Food Terminal, Inc. (FTI).

El Niño refers to the unusual warming of sea surface temperatures along the equatorial Pacific that is usually characterized by below-average rainfall, which leads to a dry spell.

Fondevilla said these mitigation measures were taken up during the latest meeting of the inter-agency task force that had been created by President Arroyo to work on intervention programs for this latest dry spell, which is expected to last till July.

Fondevilla said that the DA task force is focusing its mitigation measures on 23 “highly vulnerable” areas and 24 “moderately vulnerable” areas in the country.

These areas considered highly vulnerable to an onslaught of El Niño are Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Cavite, Rizal, Occidental Mindoro, Palawan, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga City, Sarangani, and South Cotabato.