AGRICULTURAL losses due to El Niño have ballooned to P109.44 million with most of the damage incurred in rice-growing areas, the Department of Agriculture reported on Wednesday.

The department's latest El Niño bulletin said the weather pattern, which brings dry spells and droughts, had so far affected 2,177 hectares of rice fields in the Western Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula.

Volume losses totaled 4,738 metric tons and some 2,602 farmers were said to have been affected.

The figures were expected to increase as data is still being collected, the department said.

The "strong and mature" El Niño is expected to last until February, it added.

Majority of global climate models suggest that the weather pattern will likely persist until May with a transition to a neutral phase up to June.

The Agriculture department said it was continuing to monitor the situation and that advisories would be regularly issued to farmers.

Earlier this month, it started a series of cluster meetings for the Masagana Rice Industry Development Program to map out interventions to mitigate the impact of a prolonged dry spell.

The provision of inputs and scaling of rice technologies are also being implemented, including cultivation methods that reduce the amount of water needed to produce rice.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA), for its part, said that around 20 percent of total yield could be affected by El Niño.

In a briefing on Wednesday, NIA Administrator Eduardo Guillen said that the situation in Central Luzon was concerning as the water level in the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija remained low.

To lessen the impact of El Niño in the province, he said the use of alternate wetting and drying technology was being implemented to increase irrigated areas.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration has said that Metro Manila and 26 other provinces will likely experience a drought by the end of February.

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