CEBU – While other provinces in the country have already felt the ill effects of the dry spell brought about by the El Niño phenomenon, farmlands in Cebu, the Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 said, remain unaffected by the drought.

DA 7 Executive Regional Director Ricardo Oblena said Cebu and some parts of Central Visayas have yet to experience the effects of El Niño. Nonetheless, he stressed that that the public should brace itself for the long dry spell within the next few days.

Based on the DA’s monitoring, Oblena said Cebu’s farmlands and fishponds are still unaffected, with no reports of damage to crops, livestock, and marine life. He stressed, though, that DA 7 is already preparing assistance to farmers and fisherfolks who would be affected by the El Niño.

Earlier, DA7 Regional Technical Director Angel C. Enriquez said that since El Niño is expected to affect cropping in the first semester of this year, the agricultural sector in Central Visayas has already set up its preventive measures to mitigate the harmful effects of the predicted dry spell as early as December last year.

It can be recalled that Central Visayas is among the 24 identified areas in the country considered "moderately vulnerable" to the El Nino phenomenon expected to hit the province of Bohol and some parts of Negros Oriental.

In Bohol, which is considered the rice capital of the region, an estimated 3,788 hectares of rice lands will be affected by El Niño-caused drought.

The dry spell is expected to reduce corn-planted areas by 2,671 hectares, resulting to an estimated production loss of 6,674 metric tons. Most of these affected corn areas are situated in the provinces of Bohol and Negros Oriental.