BALANGA CITY, Bataan -- Some 10,000 hectares of land planted to rice were initially damaged by Typhoon Ompong on Saturday, the provincial agriculture office on Sunday said.
Provincial agriculturist Johanna Dizon said "the typhoon affected rice crops in the flowering stage in 8,078.5 hectares and the rest in their milk and dough (ripening) stages.”
Dizon, together with city supervising agriculturist Ronie Lopez inspected portions of damaged rice paddies in this city, saying those crops in milk dough stage could not be salvaged since the palay plants were still green.
Even high-breed rice in the flowering stage was not spared from the wrath of the typhoon.
Lopez said palay in the flowering stage are greatly affected by strong winds.
He said that of the 1,200 hectares planted to rice in Balanga City, 70 to 80 hectares were in the flowering stage.
Dizon said about 60 percent of the standing crops in Bataan or more than 8,000 hectares are in the flowering stage. There are more than 14,000 hectares planted to rice this season in 11 towns and a city.
Dizon could not yet give an estimate of the damage to rice crops, saying they will make a thorough assessment on Monday.
So far, she said, that only Balanga has submitted a report of more than PHP1.3 million in damage to rice crops. (PNA)
