ONE AND ONLY DRYING FACILITY. This 10 x 15 meter pavement with long cracks running through its sides is the only drying facility in sitio Tanufong, Cudal, Tabuk City. This is rather disastrous considering that Tanufong has 100 hectares of cornlands. Residents say that there were instances when people came to fisticuffs over who should use the pavement first. They add that many politicians promise them additional pavements during campaign periods but that nothing happens after the elections. Standing on the pavement are (from left) Kagawads Leon Linggayo, Roland Bangibang and barangay treasurer Max Soliven.**Photo by Estanislao Albano, Jr.
TABUK CITY, Kalinga – A milder version of the El Nino-induced dry spell which devastated crops in the country last year is unfolding in the city with corn crops bearing the brunt at this stage.
In a visit to barangay Cudal, which with its 1,000 hectares of cornlands is the leading corn producer in the city, this writer saw corn plants in the vegetative and flowering stages stunted and turning yellow and there are also those fully grown with thin ears.
Barangay officials of Cudal fear that if it does not rain immediately, up to 50 percent of the barangay’s corn crop will be ruined.
They said that while the phenomenon is very much milder than last year’s drought when most of the farmers were unable to recover their investment and even incurred debts and people in the barangay resorted to selling wild ampalaya leaves, bamboo shoots and snails just to survive, the farmers who are still reeling from last year’s El Nino and typhoon Juan will deeply feel the effect of the new blow.
Kagawad Leon Linggayo, 67, and barangay treasurer Max Soliven, 40, said that the 50 percent represent the farmers who planted their crops starting in December.
Soliven said that farmers in the barangay were upbeat about the chances of their crops because of the prediction of the Pag-asa that the weather will be rainy up to May but that as it happened, the rains stopped coming starting December.
City Agriculturist Gilbert Cawis confirmed the estimate of the barangay officials saying that around 50 percent of the corn crops in the whole city are threatened by the dry spell and five percent by the cold climate and that only 35 percent of the corn crops are safe.
Cawis blamed climate change for the abnormal weather condition which brought about the dry spells two years in a row.
“It is supposed to be La Nina but it is not raining. I do not understand,” Cawis said.
In the case of the population center of Cudal which is located on a flat land around 20 meters above the Mallig River bed, it is not only the corn that the dry spell is affecting but the people of Cudal themselves because the deep wells in the village are starting to dry up.
Linggayo said that each time it does not rain for a long time, the deep wells whose depths range from 12 to 28 meters turn dry.
Kagawad Rolando Bangibang, 27, informed that during dry spells, the Mallig River becomes the only source of water for inhabitants of Cudal who go there to bath, wash and draw their domestic water needs.
“The people use sleds and carts to fetch water. They dig round wells on the banks for drinking and cooking purposes. They boil the water before drinking it,” Bangibang said.
The three officials say that during summer and droughts when the river is frequented by Cudal residents, how to get down to the river and go back to the village becomes a grave problem what with the village and the river separated by a 20-meter cliff made of loose earth and soft rocks.
There are no permanent footsteps going down to the river and the people use precarious trails to traverse the distance.
The three officials said that several accidents have already occurred with one old man getting a fracture when he fell to the river bed.
The three are one in saying that concrete footsteps should be constructed.
Barangay captain Wendel Gonayon, however, disagrees saying that considering that the cliff is susceptible to erosion every time the river is swollen, it would just be a waste of money to construct concrete footsteps.
Furthermore, he said that with the river becoming more accessible, young children who are now prevented by the type of the passage to go down to the river might be endangered.
He said that the better solution is to make the water supply in the village adequate thereby eliminating the need for people to go to the river for water.
“We need a water system which does not dry up even during droughts, one with a tank and distribution lines,” Gonayon said.**
In a visit to barangay Cudal, which with its 1,000 hectares of cornlands is the leading corn producer in the city, this writer saw corn plants in the vegetative and flowering stages stunted and turning yellow and there are also those fully grown with thin ears.
Barangay officials of Cudal fear that if it does not rain immediately, up to 50 percent of the barangay’s corn crop will be ruined.
They said that while the phenomenon is very much milder than last year’s drought when most of the farmers were unable to recover their investment and even incurred debts and people in the barangay resorted to selling wild ampalaya leaves, bamboo shoots and snails just to survive, the farmers who are still reeling from last year’s El Nino and typhoon Juan will deeply feel the effect of the new blow.
Kagawad Leon Linggayo, 67, and barangay treasurer Max Soliven, 40, said that the 50 percent represent the farmers who planted their crops starting in December.
Soliven said that farmers in the barangay were upbeat about the chances of their crops because of the prediction of the Pag-asa that the weather will be rainy up to May but that as it happened, the rains stopped coming starting December.
City Agriculturist Gilbert Cawis confirmed the estimate of the barangay officials saying that around 50 percent of the corn crops in the whole city are threatened by the dry spell and five percent by the cold climate and that only 35 percent of the corn crops are safe.
Cawis blamed climate change for the abnormal weather condition which brought about the dry spells two years in a row.
“It is supposed to be La Nina but it is not raining. I do not understand,” Cawis said.
In the case of the population center of Cudal which is located on a flat land around 20 meters above the Mallig River bed, it is not only the corn that the dry spell is affecting but the people of Cudal themselves because the deep wells in the village are starting to dry up.
Linggayo said that each time it does not rain for a long time, the deep wells whose depths range from 12 to 28 meters turn dry.
Kagawad Rolando Bangibang, 27, informed that during dry spells, the Mallig River becomes the only source of water for inhabitants of Cudal who go there to bath, wash and draw their domestic water needs.
“The people use sleds and carts to fetch water. They dig round wells on the banks for drinking and cooking purposes. They boil the water before drinking it,” Bangibang said.
The three officials say that during summer and droughts when the river is frequented by Cudal residents, how to get down to the river and go back to the village becomes a grave problem what with the village and the river separated by a 20-meter cliff made of loose earth and soft rocks.
There are no permanent footsteps going down to the river and the people use precarious trails to traverse the distance.
The three officials said that several accidents have already occurred with one old man getting a fracture when he fell to the river bed.
The three are one in saying that concrete footsteps should be constructed.
Barangay captain Wendel Gonayon, however, disagrees saying that considering that the cliff is susceptible to erosion every time the river is swollen, it would just be a waste of money to construct concrete footsteps.
Furthermore, he said that with the river becoming more accessible, young children who are now prevented by the type of the passage to go down to the river might be endangered.
He said that the better solution is to make the water supply in the village adequate thereby eliminating the need for people to go to the river for water.
“We need a water system which does not dry up even during droughts, one with a tank and distribution lines,” Gonayon said.**
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