MANILA (ANN/ PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER) – The Philippines’ Department of Agriculture (DA) has estimated the damage wrought by Typhoon Doksuri at nearly PHP3 billion with additional losses expected in areas affected by continuous rains and strong winds.
In its latest bulletin issued on Tuesday, the DA placed agricultural losses due to the weather disturbance at PHP2.89 billion, up from the PHP1.94 billion reported previously.
Rice accounted for 38.9 per cent of the total at PHP1.13 billion, with some 33,063 metric tonnes of produce spanning 92,179 hectares affected.
Next was corn at PHP998.2 million, equivalent to 34.4 per cent; infrastructure (irrigation facilities and farm structures), PHP351.7 million; high-value crops, PHP235.6 million; fisheries, PHP175.4 million; and livestock and poultry, PHP11.9 million.
Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) director Gerald Glenn Panganiban, however, said there was no reason for consumers to panic as the country had enough food supply despite the agricultural losses.
“It will take us a bit of time to recover but owing to the resilience of our farmers… when farmer representatives from Region 2 visited, they are saying that farmers have started to rebuild,” Panganiban said at an event held in Makati City.
“Filipinos are very resilient. With the help of the government, the private sector [and] LGUs (local government units), I think we can recover rapidly from this,” he told reporters.
Pablo Luis Azcona, the acting Sugar Regulatory Administration administrator, said that Doksuri also damaged some sugar cane plantations, although the impact on the industry was expected to be “minimal.”
Based on the DA bulletin, a total of 142,365 farmers and fishers were affected.
Doksuri also wiped out 98,217 metric tonnes of commodities, including rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock and poultry, and fisheries covering 163,722 hectares of agricultural areas. Farm and fishery infrastructures, as well as fishing paraphernalia likewise took a hit.
Panganiban said the BPI had started distributing urban agriculture kits and providing support to affected farmers.
A total of 111,873 bags of rice seeds, 14,426 bags of corn seeds, and 2,582 kilogrammes of assorted vegetable seeds were available for distribution, he added.
The DA was also prepared to provide drugs and biologics for livestock and poultry, while the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources would distribute PHP62,000 worth of tilapia, carp and catfish fingerlings to affected fisherfolk.
