El Niño brings drought to Colombia

February 9, 1998
Web posted at: 10:10 p.m. EST (0310 GMT)

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- El Niño has wreaked havoc around the globe, bringing rains, floods and other types of severe weather. But in Colombia, it has brought the worst drought in years, causing crop losses worth millions of dollars.

There are no official estimates of damage, but there have been more than 11,000 fires, and some 10,000 cattle have died just in the southern region of El Guila since the drought began.

The weather phenomenon brings a violent change to Pacific Ocean currents, which affect local climates.

Eduardo Cortez, a farmer all his life, doesn't remember a summer worse than this.

"Everybody from all parts of the country are complaining that summer is too strong, and in the hot areas, the coffee plants are drying up, the rice fields are drying up, they don't have water to water, all the crops are drying up," he said.

In Silvania, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Bogota, corn fields are drying up. While the lack of water is affecting the crops, the unusually hot temperatures are also bringing plagues of bugs.

"Because of this extremely hot summer we are suffering, we are getting this bug they call 'broca,' and the hotter the summer, the more broca we get," said farmer Fabio Moreno.

The Colombian government is helping the farmers with loans worth $46 million. That amount could be increased by $30 million in the next few weeks.

But farmers aren't the only ones suffering. Water shortages are affecting city residents as well.

Cuts in both water and energy were expected in Bogota this year, but one government official said the energy supply is guaranteed for the moment.

"At this point I think that, as the president said, rationing is not necessary, not because of the situation, because as regards to quantity of rain we are much worse off than in 1992 and even in 1985, but thanks to the measures we've taken, we won't have to enforce rationing right now," said Eduardo Verano de la Rosa, Colombia's environment minister.

To fight the fires, the ministry of environment has hired two special planes from Canada. The health ministry also is fighting a battle against cholera, dengue and breathing problems due to the hot weather.

Scientists predict the El Niño effect will continue until May, which could prove to be too late for Colombian farmers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Related sites:

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• Official site of the Republic of Colombia
• Latin America on the Net: Colombia
• Republic of Colombia information - Colorado State University

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