Goring, Hanna, monsoon agricultural damage hits P1.76 billion

MANILA, Philippines — The southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoons Goring and Hanna caused damage to agriculture that reached P1.76 billion.

In a final bulletin released yesterday, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said 62,060 farmers and fisherfolk were affected in the Cordilleras, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol and Western Visayas.

Total production loss was at 77,476 metric tons, covering 68,476 hectares of agricultural land.

The affected commodities include rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock and poultry as well as fisheries. The DA said irrigation systems and farm facilities were also damaged.

Losses incurred in palay production reached P1.45 billion, with 56,288 hectares or 0.31 percent of the total annual target volume for rice affected.

Damage to corn reached P178.71 million, affecting 11,725 hectares of plantations. Losses to high-value crops were estimated at P65.59 million.

The fisheries sector incurred losses worth P40.26 million; infrastructure, P20.5 million, and livestock and poultry, P10.42 million.

The DA had earlier reported that damage to agriculture due to the southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoons Egay and Falcon soared to P12 billion.