Asked friend Jose Almendares, the provincial agriculturist, what preparations his office was undertaking to mitigate the effects of La Niña to agriculture.

“We’re actually preparing for El Niño,” he said, straight-faced. You never know when this guy is joking or if he is, yes, joking. He’s a serious worker, but he’s always a happy guy.

“Why? It’s a girl that’s visiting us this year,” I told him.

“Have you not figured it out yet? When they say we’ll have El Niño, he sends La Niña. If they say La Niña is coming, she sends El Niño,” he laughed.

Okay, I can’t argue with the weather. I changed the topic. What are the problems plaguing agriculture in the province?

“Field mice,” he exclaimed. “They ate about 50 hectares of palay in the towns of Manaoag, Laoac and San Nicolas.

The affected areas are at the tailend of the Agno River Irrigation system. The water did not reach the young palay during the flowering stage because the irrigation canals are silted.

“You, see, when the water is away, the rats will play,” Joe Al said.

The rats are gone now. But since they could be merely hiding, they may strike again another day in another field.

But this may be a good news to people of Mapandan who are celebrating their Pandan Festival this April 3-19. One of the highlights of the festival is the cooking of exotic food using exotic ingredients like field mice.

Sounds yucky? Others consider it a delicacy. And with the cost of meat rising to high clouds, we might as well consider meat from other sources. Besides, field mice eat what you and I eat –palay and other edible things in the ricefield.

Okay, okay. To each his own.