Labuyo agri damage won’t affect growth

MANILA, Philippines -The damage inflicted by typhoon Labuyo in Northern Luzon will have a “negligible” effect on the annuall agriculturtre growth target for the year, according to Agriculture  Secretary Proceso Alcala.

The agriculture chief said that in damaged corn lands, for instance, crops demolished by the storm and recover within 100 days.

“(The damage) is negligible to the national target. It’s not severe for the whole year. No (production) area will be lost,” he said.

 â€œBased on experience, farmers affected by typhoons rebuild their homes in a week and return to the fields in the next.”

Based on the latest typhoon damage report to the department, Labuyo damaged P571  million worth of agriculture assets in 5,645 hectares. Affected commodities include rice, corn, vegetables, banana, fisheries, and livestock.

Damaged were P92.43 million worth of palay crops in 12, 535 hectares, all of which have chances of recovery.

Damaged corn crops in 37, 621 hectares  were valued at P348.64 million, only 458 hectares  of which may not recover.

Farm output is seen to grow between three to five percent this year against 2.92 percent in 2012.

The Bureau of Agriculture Statistics (BAS) projects palay production for 2013 may reach 19.45 million metric tons (MT), 2.3 percent higher than last year’s output of 18.03 million MT.

The harvest area may expand to 4.76 million hectares from 4.69 million hectares of rice lands in 2012.

Yield may improve by 0.8 percent from 3.84 MT per hectare to 3.88 MT per hectare year- on-year.