Cloud seeding on June if no rains til May 30

The Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh) through the Office of The Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) will conduct the Cloud Seeding Operations (CSOs) in Bohol if no heavy rains that happen in the province until the end of this month.

During the El Nino Task Force Meeting last May 10,2019, Leonard Samar from the local Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA) reported that based on the El Nino and Climate Outlooks, the provinces of Bohol, Cebu and Southern Leyte in Visayas has experienced dry spell.

Samar said that according to PAG-ASA El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Alert System Status, the  weak El Nino continues to persist in the Tropical Pacific; majority of climate models suggest El Nino condition to continue through June-July-August 2019 season.

While based on the model forecasts, it indicates weak strength El Nino conditions for the May-August and has continued into September to December 2019 season.

Leon Parac, Jr., CSO Focal Person said that last week there were 18 towns in Bohol had experienced moderate to heavy rainfalls namely: Candijay, Bilar, Ubay, Talibon, Getafe, Bien Unido, Calape, Dagohoy, Sierra Bullones, Danao, Sagbayan, Carmen, Batuan, Catigbian, Guindulman, Duero, Jagna and Pilar.

However, Parac said that according to the rice technicians the rain could easily absorb to the ground and could not be used for land preparation for the next cropping season.

He said that supposed to be at the middle of this month the farmers have already started the land preparation or the sowing of rice seeds to ensure for planting on the first week of June.

Parac disclosed that last May 15-16, 2019, he at the OPA and Engr. Edwin Renos from the BSM had conducted the joint area assessment of the service areas of the four major dams in the province of which they found out that the present water level conditions could not suffice to be used for planting if there will be no heavy rains to happen to elevate the water level conditions of the dams.

As of May 17, 2019, the water elevation of Malinao Dam in Pilar was 151.79meters (ms.) against 152ms. At full; Bayongan Dam in San Miguel 44.58 ms against 52 ms at full; Capayas Dam in Ubay (33.14 ms) while at full is 33.5 ms and  Talibon Dam in Zamora, Talibon – 25.82 ms against 30 ms at full.

Parac bared that as of now there are stand by funds intended for cloud seeding from DA-BSWM worth P25M which was already downloaded at the DA-Regional Field Office 7 and the P2.3M from the PGBhwhich was alrady approved last year and the notice to proceed (NTP) was already processed by the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government and only the signature of the governor has been awaited.

The province of Bohol has  86,913.21 hectares (has.) of rice lands of which 32,919.53 has. Are rainfed and 23,993.65 has. are irrigated. (AtoyCosap)