Agriculture damage hits P18 billion

MANILA, Philippines - The estimated damage from back-to-back typhoons is beginning to pile up, pushing the total loss from “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” to P18.4 billion from only P12 billion as of Monday.

In the latest report of the Department of Agriculture Central Action Center (DACAC), estimated losses from Pepeng in Luzon’s seven regions now stand at P11.7 billion, while damage from Ondoy remains at approximately P6.8 billion.

The two typhoons destroyed some 121,949 hectares of croplands causing the loss of 925,523 metric tons (MT) of rice, corn, and high-value commercial crops (HVCC) as well as fishery products, livestock and poultry, and P2.7-billion worth of farm infrastructure.

Rice areas were the most affected with 109,188 hectares having no chance of recovery, followed by 9,961 hectares of corn and 2,800 hectares of HVCC farms.

Damaged farmlands lost some 839,241 MT of palay or paddy rice; 45,768 MT of corn and 40,514 MT of HVCC.

Pepeng’s extended stay in the country inundated 291,063 hectares of croplands, causing the loss of 596,492 MT of rice, corn and HVCC.

The total value of loss amounts to about P11.7 billion – P10 billion from production losses from crops and livestock/poultry and P1.7 billion from damaged irrigation facilities.

For the rice sector in Region I, II, III, V and the Cordillera Administration Region (CAR), the affected area is 264,308 hectares, 69,135 hectares of which were completely damaged.

Deemed lost was 528,179 MT of palay from 253,240 hectares that were in reproductive or maturity stage.

Total value of loss amounts to over P9 billion, consisting of P8.9-billion worth of lost palay and P59.6 million in lost investment of farmers.

Losses were recorded from 21 provinces of Cordillera, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon, three provinces of Ilocos, and two in Bicol.

For the corn sector in Regions I, II, III, V and the CAR, affected were 21,354 hectares, 8,861 hectares of which will not be able to recover.

Lost were 41,948 MT corn grains from the 19,075 MT crops in reproductive/maturity stages. 

The value of damage amounts to P568 million.

The losses came from 10 provinces of five regions.

For the HVCC sector in the CAR and in Regions I, II and V, 5,401 hectares were affected that resulted to a loss of 26,365 MT HVCC consisting mostly of vegetables, bananas, mango and other fruit trees, all worth P261 million.

For the livestock/poultry sector in Regions I, III and the CAR, farm animals consisting of livestock (cattle, carabaos, goat, swine, sheep and poultry) valued at P13 million were reported dead or lost.

For irrigation facilities in Regions I, II, III, IVA, IVB, V and the CAR, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) reported damaged Communal Irrigation System (CIS)/National Irrigation System (NIS) with a cost of P1.8 billion.

The affected irrigation facilities have a service area of 178,180 hectares of croplands.

The DACAC said that the lost rice harvest from Ondoy of 311,062 MT palay is 4.8 percent of the national target of 6,478,960 MT, while for Pepeng, the loss of 528,179 MT constitutes an additional 8.15 percent reduction in production or a total of 839,241 MT, which is 12.95 percent of the projected produce in the country in the last quarter of the year.

For corn, the lost harvest from Ondoy amounts to 3,820 MT, which is 0.27 percent of the national target production of 1,396,394 MT and for Pepeng, the loss of 41,948 MT is three percent of the target, for a total of 45,768 MT, which is 3.27 percent of the target for the quarter.