Filipino farmers risk death to save crops

BAGGAO: As Typhoon Manghkut hurtled towards the Philippines, those in its firing line had a stark choice: stay or flee. Many chose to remain to protect their most precious possessions — their food and livestock.

Residents of the storm’s ground zero, here on the eastern flank of Luzon island, knew they would be hit full-force, but losing their livelihoods was a disaster they were willing to risk everything to prevent.

“Our house was blown away. We were flooded,” said Diday Llorente, 55.

“But we did not evacuate because we didn’t want to leave our water buffalo and livestock.”

Llorente lives in the coastal farming area here that is home to some 80,000 people, and which took a direct hit from Mangkhut when it made landfall there in the pre-dawn darkness on Saturday.

In this key farming region of northern Luzon island, a quarter of the people live in poverty, getting by on less than US$2 (RM8.30) per day.

Like many in the region, Llorente is a small-scale farmer, eking out a fragile existence from the land. The 2ha of corn she farms with her husband were drowned in flood waters.

For farmers like her, there is no insurance to compensate for a destroyed crop or dead cow, and no rainy-day savings to bridge the gap.

“If we think from their perspective, these are really their greatest assets... whatever little they have is all they have,” said Lot Felizco, country director for Oxfam Philippines charity.

“It’s heartbreaking for people who live in a very difficult and dangerous situation. What choices do they have?”