Agri Loss

Drought, typhoons cost agriculture P953M

Christine Gaylican cgaylican@inquirer.com.ph
Inquirer News Service

WEATHER disturbances in the past weeks have affected the agriculture sector resulting in an estimated production loss of 953 million pesos, the Department of Agriculture said Tuesday.

The onslaught of tropical typhoons "Gorio" (international codename: Matsa) and "Huaning" (international codename: Sanvu) and the insufficient rainfall in Northern Luzon from July until the first week of August affected the planting and harvest of rice, corn, vegetables, fisheries, livestock and poultry.

The DA said damage to corn accounted for 5 percent of the national annual production target of 5.5 million metric tons, while damage to rice accounted for 0.2 percent of the national annual rice target of 14.75 million metric tons.

"The decrease in the production of rice and corn in the affected regions can be partially compensated by the projected good production in Mindanao," the DA report said.

Rehabilitation of affected areas are already underway and affected farmers have been given seeds for planting.

Typhoon "Huaning" affected towns in the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Apayao and Mt. Province resulting in a production loss of 16 million pesos.

Continuous rains affected areas in Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao resulting in a production loss of 70.8 million pesos, of which 80 percent was damage to palay.

Insufficient rainfall in Regions I and II also resulted in production loss placed at 866.4 million pesos.

Cloud seeding operations were conducted in the affected areas between July 28 to August 5 to save the standing crops and prevent additional damages.