Maguindanao floods leave P35.9-M crop damage

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Flashfloods that hit low-lying areas in Maguindanao early this week destroyed P35.9 million worth of crops, authorities said yesterday.

Makmod Mending, Jr., regional agriculture secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the floods affected more than 7,000 hectares of rice and corn farms in several towns located near the Liguasan Delta.

The delta – which straddles Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces – serves as a catch basin for more than a dozen rivers from the hinterlands of Bukidnon and parts of South Cotabato.

Provincial agriculture officer Salik Panalunsong reported that the floods affected at least 6,872 farmers.

Panalunsong informed the region’s agriculture and fisheries office that only rice and corn crops from 2,713 out of more than 7,000 hectares of flooded farms could be saved once floodwaters recede this week.

“At least 61 percent of the crops in all of the flooded areas are beyond recovery,” Mending said, citing Panalunsong’s report.

The provincial board declared Maguindanao under a state of calamity last Friday to hasten the release of funds for relief missions in flooded areas.