TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (PIA) - - The successful cloud seeding operations conducted recently by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Air Force brought light to moderate rains in some parts of the Cagayan Valley Region. 

DA Regional Executive Director Rose Mary G. Aquino said the cloud seeding operations were able to reduce the impact of severe drought in southern Cagayan, northern Isabela, and Nueva Vizcaya areas. 

“This can cushion the initial impact of the El Niño phenomenon. Crops need the precipitation and the cooling effect of the rain,” Aquino said.

Dr. Roberto Busania, regional technical director for operations and extension of DA-Region 2, said the operations were in collaboration with the Philippine Air Force, Bureau of Soils and Water Management, DA’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Unit, and the National Irrigation Administration.

“We are hoping that the cloud seeding will bring relief to our corn farmers in our region. The crops are in the vegetative and reproductive stage, which is why they need enough water supply to obtain a good harvest,” Paul Vincent Balao, regional corn focal person of DA Region 2, said.

Balao said cloud seeding, a weather modification technique that improves a cloud's ability to produce rain, is one of the various interventions of the agriculture department to mitigate the impact of the El Niño phenomenon in Cagayan Valley. (OTB/PIA Region 2 with reports from DA Region 2)