The Albay Provincial Agriculture Office has adopted the 2023 El Niño mitigation and adaptation plan of the Department of Agriculture (DA) under the leadership of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who also sits as DA Secretary.

In an interview Wednesday, Lorena Quising, Albay provincial information officer, said Albay will create a task force to lead the preparedness, response and mitigation measures following the El Niño alert which will likely occur in the third quarter of this year and may persist until 2024.

“In no time, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) Chairman, Governor Atty. Edcel Greco A.B. Lagman will issue an executive order to hasten the creation of the team that will address the impact of the weather phenomenon on the province, especially the farmers,” Quising said in an interview.

Provincial agriculturist Cheryl O. Rebeta said the adoption of the President’s mitigation plan aims to strengthen the measures that will address the effects of the expected drought and lessen the impact of El Niño on the agriculture and fishery industries and restore productivity in affected areas.

“This will also develop resiliency and strengthen the capacities of farmers and agri-stakeholders,” she said.

The strategies include the organization of an interagency El Niño task force, a massive information and education campaign through caravans and putting up more water-related infrastructure such as hydroelectric power plants, flood control projects and irrigation systems.

The task force shall be composed of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO), Albay Provincial Agricultural Office, Provincial Health Office, Provincial Engineering Office, Albay Veterinary Office, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office and Environment and Natural Resources Office, among other agencies.

Meanwhile, APSEMO chief Dr. Cedric D. Daep said their office also listed some measures to mitigate the effect of El Niño in the province.

These include conservation and limited use of collected rainwater, inducing rainfall by cloud seeding, utilization of available water from the underground, developing small-scale short gestation period irrigation system, accelerating shallow tube well irrigation development in selected areas and participatory accelerated and focused low-lift pump irrigation development.

Daep noted that rainfed areas and upland crops will be the first to be affected by El Niño followed by small streams and creeks which will either dry up or have a greatly reduced dry season dependable flow.

“Small run-off, including many communal irrigation systems, will be the next to be affected, followed by many farm ponds and small water-impounding irrigation schemes,” he said. (PNA)