Crop losses from Negros Occ. floods

BACOLOD CITY—Rice and vegetable damage from the floods last weekend in Negros Occidental has gone up to 19.5 million, Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said Thursday.

Masculino said that based on reports submitted to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), the damage was reported in towns of Valladolid and Ilog where rice and vegetable crops worth 11,021,650 and covering 41.8 hectares and 72 farmers were lost.

So far 813.25 ha of rice and vegetable farmlands suffered 19,549,328.6 worth of damage and affected 651 farmers in four towns in south Negros.

Masculino said the records are not final, since reports from many city and municipal agriculturists have not come in.

The damage in Ilog was placed 1648,000, affecting 36 rice farmers and covering 36 hectares, he said.

He also reported that in Valladolid, 36 vegetable farmers were affected, covering 5.8 hectares with total damage at 1373,650.

Valladolid also had the second biggest losses at P1,599,928, involving 254.85 hectares in 10 barangays affecting 153 rice farmers.

He urged agriculturists in towns and cities affected by the flooding to submit damage reports immediately so the stricken farmers can receive help.

Total losses in rice production for the province is estimated at 136.45 metric tons, Masculino said.

He said they might ask the help of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol who is in Negros Occidental today to check on the affected farmers.

Masculino assured that the Department of Agriculture’s regional office has a buffer stock of rice seeds that can be readily distributed to affected farmers.

After the OPA determines the number of farmers affected, it will identify who are enrolled in the crop insurance program of the provincial government or in Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, he said.