BACOLOD CITY: The El Niño phenomenon has already affected 11 barangay (villages) in four local government units (LGUs) of Negros Occidental, Dina Genzola, officer in charge of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), reported on Tuesday, January 30.

As of January 26, a total of 117.22 hectares of rice lands and 143 farmers were affected in the province.

Total damage reached up to P7,079,836.

The worst hit was Himamaylan City with eight barangay and 75 rice farmers affected.

A total of 59.22 hectares of rice lands were affected in the city with damage placed at P2,414,586.

Two barangay in Cauayan town were affected, two rice farmers and 52 hectares and crop damage worth P4,105,000.

One barangay in Isabela was affected with 6 hectares, one farmer and damages worth P560,250.

Genzola said the affected rice lands are either in vegetative stage or harvestable stage.

She cited the state of the land that has already cracked causing the rice to die.

"When we received the reports, we immediately sent agriculture extension workers to validate and compute the value of the damages," she said.

Genzola said she hopes the affected farmers have crop insurance as the OPA is coordinating with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. and the provincial government has also allocated a budget for its own crop insurance program.

Most of the affected rice are considered "rain fed" and located in upland areas, she said.

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