SWAMPED. A flooded rice field in Dagami, Leyte after the onslaught of Typhoon Ursula. In its latest monitoring bulletin on Friday afternoon (Dec. 27, 2019), the Department of Agriculture placed initial agricultural damage and losses brought about by the typhoon at PHP633.72 million. (PNA photo by Sarwell Meniano)
MANILA -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday reported that the damages and losses incurred by farmers and fisherfolk due to Typhoon Ursula (Phanfone) are placed at PHP 695.85 million.
In its latest monitoring bulletin issued at 5 p.m., the DA’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) said the overall volume loss on rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock, and fisheries amounted to 1,244 metric tons (MT) affecting 6,523 hectares and 47,690 farmers and fisherfolk in Mimaropa region, Bicol Region, and Western, Eastern, and Central Visayas.
There are also reported damages and losses on agri-infrastructure.
Most of the production losses were recorded in the fisheries sector, which accounted for 84.2 percent of the total damage or about PHP587.41 million affecting 43,813 fisherfolk. These include damages to fishponds with tilapia, fish cages, fish pens, seaweeds, "payao" (fish-aggregating device), motorized and non-motorized bancas, and boundary markers.
For the rice sector, some PHP62.83 million were damaged with 1,013 MT volume production losses planted to 5,730 hectares in the areas of Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, Capiz, Iloilo, Biliran, and Leyte.
For corn crops, a total of PHP9.21 million were destroyed, affecting 697 hectares with an overall production loss of 102 MT in Leyte and Antique.
Damage to high-value crops reached PHP22.69 million with a production volume loss of 129 MT planted in 96 hectares in the areas of Iloilo, Samar, and Leyte.
The value of production loss in Masbate’s livestock sector was pegged at P243,390.
Meanwhile, agri-infrastructure damages in Leyte amounted to PHP13.46 million.
DA’s regional field offices in Visayas have seed reserves with 8,532 bags of rice seeds, 4,622 bags of corn seeds, 2,343 kgs of high- value crops seeds to be distributed to the affected farmers ready to replant.
In addition, DA-MIMAROPA will start to distribute a total of 4,540 bags of rice seeds and 1,000 packs of onion seeds in the municipalities of Occidental Mindoro including San Jose, Magsaysay, Rizal, and Calintaan.
The Agriculture Credit and Policy Council has an available fund of PHP60 million for emergency loans under the Survival Recovery Program to assist typhoon-affected farmers.
Furthermore, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation has available funds to pay for the losses incurred and will fast track the processing of crop insurance of farmers affected by the typhoon. (PNA)
