Piñol says typhoon unlikely to affect agri growth target

The government is sticking to its five to six percent growth forecast for the year despite the recent typhoon that hit the country.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said tropical depression Urduja, which damaged about P400 million in crops, would not have much impact on total production as majority are still in vegetative stage and have yet to be harvested.

“The damage is not much compared to the damage of the previous typhoons (in previous years). While it will definitely affect our productivity, I don’t think it will really pull down the growth of the agriculture sector,” Piñol said.

Last year, the agriculture sector declined 1.41 percent cent.

Piñol said the government would conduct an extensive and more profound agriculture program in Biliran following the severe landslides and soil erosion problem.

“We will go back and help them come up with a plan that will take into consideration measures to prevent soil erosion. It’s going to be a long term project but we have to start now,” he said.

“If you don’t address the soil erosion problem and the landslides caused by the denudation of forest, that problem will recur every time typhoons come,” Piñol added.

Furthermore, the government plans to establish food supply depots in areas which are highly vulnerable to calamities because of climate change.

President Duterte’s directive came after food supply concerns surfaced in Biliran due to the damages caused by the typhoon.

“There should be the prepositioning of food in areas identified to be in the path of a typhoon. The supply should be good for at least two weeks to forestall hunger among the people in isolated areas,” Piñol said.

He added that state-run National Food Authority and the Department of Social Welfare and Development are already looking at the plan.