Pangasinan, April 16 -- The municipality here is firm on keeping 70 percent of its land for agriculture, noting that it remains unaffected by the El Nino phenomenon.

In an interview Monday, Mayor Carlos Lopez Jr. said only 30 percent of their land areas are allocated for industrial development under the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP).

"We are a fully-irrigated municipality, hence, we thank God that we are not affected by El Nino. We would like to preserve it because we have a bounty of water. If we decrease the total agricultural area, the supply of food will suffer so we balance everything," he said.

He said agricultural lands should not be sacrificed since they have a good irrigation system that has ensured their agricultural pr...