TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – More than 11,000 farmers from the Eastern Visayas have been affected by the onslaught of Typhoon Ursula that dumped rain, destroying crops.
Based on the partial report of the Department of Agriculture in Eastern Visayas (DA-8), the 11,768 farmers were from the provinces of Leyte, Biliran, Samar and Eastern Samar – which had been placed under a state of calamity due to Ursula.
Francis Rosaroso, DA-8 information officer, said that damage to crops, fisheries and livestock products reached P171.80 million.
He said that they expected the amount to go up since more reports were still coming in.
The majority of these 11,768 farmers were from Eastern Samar–7,109 involving 1,946.05 hectares where P62.74 million worth of crops were damaged.
At least 1,746 farmers from Samar lost P72.91 million worth of crops. In Leyte, Ursula destroyed P30.51 million worth of crops and affected 2,188 farmers.
In Biliran province, the DA reported that 726 of its farmers were affected after P5.56 million worth of crops were destroyed.