Agri Losses from Bad Weather Hit P4.38B

AGRICULTURAL damage caused by Tropical Cyclones Luis, Maymay, Neneng, and Pilandok, as well as the enhanced southwest monsoon (habagat) reached P4.38 billion, according to final estimates by the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) disaster unit. In a bulletin released on Tuesday, the DA-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center said that thorough assessment by the department’s regional field offices in affected areas concluded that 99,663 farmers and fisherfolk were affected across 81,511 hectares of agricultural land, with 102,791 metric tons of lost production. Damage to the rice crop amounted to P2.05 billion, followed by high-value crops (P1.38 billion), fisheries (P647.79 million), corn (P127.6 million), livestock (P32.65 million), and cassava (P30.94 million). Damage to irrigation facilities was valued at P72.52 million, farm structures at P40.64 million, and agricultural machineries and equipment at P6.35 million. The DA said it will continue to provide P609.79 million worth of farm inputs to affected farmers and fisherfolk, including rice, corn, vegetable seeds, and other planting materials, as well as 9,260 bags of palay (unmilled rice) from the National Food Authority to local government units in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and Mimaropa. The DA also said P187 million worth of indemnification will be distributed to 24,987 farmers and fisherfolk covered by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., as well as up to P25,000 in loans from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council’s Survival and Recovery program. The department also said its regional field offices in the affected areas are also continuing to mobilize logistical support by deploying trucks under the KADIWA ng Pangulo program to facilitate the transport of agricultural commodities and aid and are also continuing to monitor commodity prices and market flows to prevent profiteering. The DA’s regional office in the Cordillera Administrative Region established help desks at the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center in La Trinidad, Benguet to monitor the movement of vegetables in the province in light of reports of farmers throwing away truckloads of unsold vegetables along a roadside in Tublay, Benguet in August. — Marron Joshua F. Mendoza