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Philippines fears El Nino drought will cut rice yields
Manila (AFP) Feb 2, 2010 A possible drought caused by the El Nino weather system could slash Philippines rice yields this year, the government warned Tuesday, as Manila prepared to deal with any possible crisis. Government models project 2010 rice harvests would be trimmed by up to 816,312 tonnes if a severe drought strikes, Agriculture Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said. The fall would be equivalent to five percent of last year's entire yield. This would be on top of 449,429 tonnes reduction in corn, 42,362 tonnes of fish and other marine catch, and 3.08 million tonnes of other crops, he said in a statement. El Nino is an occasional seasonal warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean that upsets normal weather patterns from the western seaboard of Latin America to east Africa, and potentially has a global impact on climate. In the case of a mild El Nino, the Agriculture department estimates losses of about 265,000 tonnes of unmilled rice, about 174,000 tonnes of corn, 21,000 tonnes of fish and other catch, and 3.17 million tonnes of other crops. The government's weather service says the dry spell is likely to extend to the middle of the year but be moderate, he added. The Philippines, the world's biggest importer of rice, started to ramp up imports of the grain with a series of large tenders in the last two months of 2009. And Fondevilla said the government would also invest 1.7 billion pesos (36.56 million dollars) to help farmers. These funds would include spraying clouds with chemicals to induce rain as well as provide extra irrigation facilities.
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