EL NINO WATCH: REGION'S FARMERS STICK TO THEIR PLANTING PLANS.Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer While farmers abroad struggle with El Nino-related droughts and floods, farmers in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, say they don't plan to change what they plant or when because of the global weather phenomenon. Never mind that the last severe El Nino caused crop damage here from flooding, or that forecasts say the area could receive up to three times its average annual rainfall this winter. Earl McPhail, agricultural commissioner for Ventura County, said farmers are waiting to see if those predictions pan out. ``It's just too difficult to plan,'' he said. ``Weather forecasting weather forecasting Prediction of the weather through application of the principles of physics and meteorology. Weather forecasting predicts atmospheric phenomena and changes on the Earth's surface caused by atmospheric conditions (snow and ice cover, storm tides, floods, , as you know, isn't an exact science.'' Even local strawberry farmers, whose soft fruit is especially vulnerable to heavy rain, are continuing their operations as normal, said Theresa Thorne, spokeswoman for the California Strawberry Commission. ``Weather is just part of the gamble,'' she said. In other agricultural regions around the world, such a relaxed attitude toward El Nino is impossible. The little-understood phenomenon already has been linked this year to drought in parts of South America South America, fourth largest continent (1991 est. pop. 299,150,000), c.6,880,000 sq mi (17,819,000 sq km), the southern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. and southeast Asia Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. and to floods in east Africa. Those calamities have pushed to near-record levels the number of countries facing food shortages, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. This week, the FAO FAO, n See Food and Agriculture Organization. added five Central American countries to the list of nations in trouble, bringing the total to 37. ``We are seeing the largest number of countries with food problems since 1984, when there were 40 on the list,'' said Abdur Rashid Sir Abdul Rashid (born 29 June 1889) was the first Chief Justice of Pakistan. He belonged to the Mian Family of Baghbanpura, Lahore. He received his early education at Central Model School Lahore, and got his BA from Forman Christian College and Masters from Christ's College , the head of FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System, in a release. ``If El Nino hits southern Africa with force, the number of countries in trouble could rise well above 40.'' Working with the World Food Programme, the FAO has also launched a $9.4 million effort to bring emergency food supplies to those five Central American countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. |
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