Bohol okays P 2.5 M 

cloud seeding funds 

LOON BOHOL, August 30 (PIA)—The joint session of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) and the Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council approved the release of Php 2.5 million for cloud seeding operations, in the hope of salvaging what can still be saved from the last cropping season. 

Assistant Provincial Agriculturist Larry Pamugas, in the prologue to his resolution requesting for the allocation, reported to the joint councils the dire situation of the majority of Bohol rice lands in the drought that has extended for months. 

“We have been monitoring the conditions of the farms in Bohol and we have seen how farmers struggled to save the remaining crops as the farms are now cracking under the heat,” Pamugas pointed out. 

Farmers in rain-fed areas, have long stopped planting with springs drying up after the drought, municipal agriculturists also reported. 

Even the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) bared that the dams that are supplying irrigation water, are on their critical levels but they still need to judiciously apportion the release, if only to save what remains to be harvestable crops soon. 

Provincial Agriculture Office estimates around 24,000 hectares of rain-fed and irrigated farms need to be salvaged in this drought, which has stretched, prompting people to ask if El Nino has come this year. 

Even Governor Edgar Chatto, who could be among the most travelled locals in a day, shared to the local media the need for a quick intervention while there is still time. 

He has intimated the need for possible cloud seeding operations that could bring in the much needed rains. 

Simplified, cloud seeding is the process of spreading either dry ice, or more commonly known as silver iodide aerosols into the upper part of clouds to try to stimulate the precipitation process and form rain. 

In most dry areas in Bohol, farmers have noticed cloud formations over them, but the southeast monsoons which have been intensifying recently appear to blow these clouds away before they could fall as rains. 

According to weather experts, most rainfall starts from the introduction of ice crystals into the super-cooled cloud droplets in the upper parts of the formed clouds, to encourage the growth of new ice particles and thus precipitate the process before winds could blow the clouds away. 

But, owing to the complex operations performed by a team of experts who would go out seeking these thick clouds to sow in the rain triggers, huge amounts are also needed for the airplane and the needed chemicals to induce the rains. 

But, Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council Coordinator Anthony Damalerio certified that the Local Disaster and Risk Reduction has available funds for the operation, should the councils green light the project. 

With the impending cloud seeding operations, Pamugas cited the 2016-2017 cloud seeding operations that still allowed Bohol to harvest and contribute a bit for local food sufficiency. 

This time, the assistant provincial agriculturist is confident that a cloud seeding can still salvage crops especially the rice cropping, which would immensely prop up local supplies especially with the rice crisis looming across the country. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol) 

Assistant Provincial Agriculturist proposed to Bohol Councils the release of the P2.5M allocation to fund the much needed cloud seeding operations to induce rain and possibly save some 24,000 hectares of Bohol farms hit by the long dry spell, as the country faces rice crisis. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)