‘Lando’ wreaks damage to agriculture
The amount of the damages brought about by the strongest typhoon that hit the country this year to the agricultural sector already stands at 6.4 billion, bulk of which was recorded in major commodities such as rice, corn, and high-value crops.
Typhoon “Lando” (international name: Koppu) made a landfall in the Philippines on Sunday, killing more than 30 people, destroying infrastructure developments, and the evacuation of thousands of individuals.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has announced that as of Wednesday, the damage on agriculture sector caused by Typhoon Lando has already reached to 6.36 billion.
This was disclosed by DA officials, led by Secretary Proceso Alcala, during a press briefing on the 11th Corn Congress and 3rd National Corn Achievers Awards in Quezon City.
Through partial field validation, the DA estimated that the country have already incurred a combined production loss of 411,457 metric tons (MT), majority of which came from rice, corn, and high value crops.
Of the total, “palay” accounts for the largest production loss at about 383,668 MT, equivalent to 5.7 billion.
Corn and high value crops recorded production losses at 5,954 MT and 21, 836 MT, respectively. These figures are equivalent to 88.32 million worth of losses for corn and 528.91 million losses for high value crops.
The most affected areas in the country are Region II and III, which includes provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales. During the briefing, Alcala said the government will be partially allotting roughly 300 million for the recovery of the country’s agricultural sector, which was impaired by the typhoon, but it may also seek more fund from the national government if needed.
“There is 500 million yearly budget that is allocated for the department every year. [As of now,] we still have 200 million for the interventions for the [damaged] crop and more than 100 million for the infrastructure that was destroyed by the typhoon. But we’re still in the process of checking if this will be enough,” Alcala said.
“If we would need more fund, we are not limited to our [disaster] quick response fund. If we can justify, we can ask more fund from the President [Benigno Aquino III],” he added.
He also said that while the typhoon has resulted to considerable damage in agriculture, the DA also sees it as a chance to negate the potentially more devastating effects of El Niño on agricultural production On Tuesday, the DA announced that the damage on agriculture sector caused by Typhoon Lando has already reached 5.9 billion.
DA Undersecretary Emerson Palad said that agency has already given a directive to its regional offices and units to release prepositioned bags of rice and corn for immediate replanting of damaged farms.