El Nino affects Banaue Rice Terraces
This week, a state of Calamity was declared for Banaue because of drought. The scarcity of water has finally affected the world-famous mountain rice terraces of the northern Philippines.
According to Abriol Chuliba, chief aide to the Banaue mayor, tourists still come here, but they leave disappointed. All they see are parched fields and forest fires. One of the "Eighth Wonder of the World", the rice Terraces was built between 2,000-6,000 years ago, and are made up of big rocks for the steps and a complicated dripping down irrigation system. This once a tourist spot, had dried up because of the El Nino phenomena.
Since a state of calamity has been declared Banaue officials hope that this would allow the local authorities to look into emergency funds to aid farmers. Lack of rain added to the continuous drying of the land. This was the worst dry spell since 1998, wherein El Nino also hovered the land. The rice terraces cover an area of 53,000 acres. Banaue residents fear when the rain comes it might tear down the cracked land. Rice terraces does wonders for our country in terms of tourism than a source of rice.
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