Typhoon Maring destroys P468 million worth of crops, fishery products

MANILA, Philippines - Damage caused by tropical depression Maring to rice, corn and fishery areas has reached P468 million, according to the latest report of the Department of Agriculture Management Information Division (MID).

According to Marites D. Bernardo, chief of the DA - Central Action Center, the provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac incurred the biggest damage as Maring affected over 10,000 hectares of crops in both areas. Losses in those provinces, Bernardo reported, amounted to P216 million and P171 million, respectively.

The other provinces hit were Bulacan (P33 million), Bataan (P 27 million) and Zambales (P21 million).

The DA said that 25,524 metric tons of palay or paddy rice were affected.Of the affected provinces, Pampanga lost the biggest volume with 11,705 MT followed by Tarlac with 10,037 MT.

The total value of damage to the rice sector is placed at P 460 million, of which P433 million is from lost palay grains and P26 million from lost investment of farmers whose crops were in the seedling/vegetative stage.

The DA also reported that 35 metric tons of corn was lost from 24 hectares of affected areas in three provinces—(Pampanga, Bataan and Zambales). The DA, however, expects these areas to recover from the damages brought by tropical depression Maring.

Maring also damaged a      total of 20 hectares of tilapia fishpond in Zambales worth P7.24 million.      

As a result of Maring’s damage, the DA is now calculating the impact on rice and corn production in the third quarter of this year.

For rice, Maring affected 66.4 per-cent of the rice area in Central Luzon and 3.32 per cent of the whole Philippines to be harvested from July to September 2009.

The damage to areas in reproductive stage caused the loss of 25,524 MT of palay, which is 11.33 per cent of the regional target produce of 225,330 MT and 0.71 per cent of the national target production of 3,594,190 MT for the third quarter.

For corn, the loss of 35 metric tons is insignificant to the national target production of 969,045 metric tons.