DA begins cloud seeding operations in SOCCSKSARGEN

KORONADAL CITY -- The Department of Agriculture in
SOCCSKSARGEN Region started its cloud seeding operations on Saturday, January
23, 2016, topmost official of the agency confirmed.

DA 12 Regional Executive Director
AmaliaJayag-Datukan disclosed that personnel from the Bureau of Soils and Water
Management (BSWM) led by Leolito Siase together with members of the Philippine
Air Force arrived in General Santos City to man the conduct of the cloud
seeding operations after their assessments last week.

Cloud seeding is a process of manually
spreading salt or dry ice on clouds to help trigger precipitation and induce
rain. DA has identified cloud seeding as one of the mitigating measures to
cushion the effects of El Niño phenomenon.

According to Director Datukan, cloud seeding
sorties will continue across different parts of SOCCSKSARGEN Region, targeting
areas that are most affected by the prevailing dry spell such as Sarangani and
South Cotabato provinces.

Just this Friday (January 22), 900 bags of
salt arrived at Tambler Airport in GenSan to be used for the operations, and
few moments, the plane which will be loaded with salt landed at 12 high noon.

Each flight, she estimated, costs
Php40,000-Php45,000. Ten to 11 bags of salt are used per sortie. Each bag
contains 25 kilos of salt.

The best time for cloud seeding is from 10
am to 3pm.To further intensify the operation, DA 12
through its Regional Agricultural Engineering Section, held a briefing on the
Operations of Cloud Seeding also in General Santos City which was attended by
personnel coming from the four provincial local government units in
SOCCSKSARGEN.

The participants in the orientation will
serve as cloud spotters who are also tasked to identify the wind speed and
direction and the types of the clouds.

Besides these trained personnel, Director
Datukan is also encouraging everyone to take their share in the activity by
observing and looking for seedable clouds. They may take photos of these
clouds' build-ups and post it at Agri Tayo SOCCSKSARGEN Facebook page.

In a report in December last year, Regional
Executive Director Amalia Jayag-Datukan announced that DA 12 has earmarked
Php44 million for various interventions to counter the adverse effects of El
Nino.

These interventions include, seeds and other relief assistance that
could help farmers restart their production activities and recover losses from
the dry spell. Apart from these interventions, DA 12 and partner agencies and
local government units conducted activities to help farmers prepare against the
effects of El Niño.