Eastern Visayas agri sector suffers P80M damage due to ‘Jolina’

TACLOBAN CITY—Close to P80 million worth of agricultural products and livestock were destroyed when Typhoon Jolina pummeled Eastern Visayas on Monday night.

The damage report, however, may change as validation still continues, said Francis Rosaroso, regional information officer of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“This will still be validated. It could either increase or decrease depending on the results of field validation,” he said.

Based on the report received by the DA regional office on Friday, damage to agriculture, including palay, is at P79.96 million.

The same report said that the palay sector incurred a damage of P38 million, followed by root crops at P32 million.

The report also included damage to corn (P230, 500), bananas (P4.0 million), vegetables (P2.43 million), fruit trees (P2.7 million) and livestock (P380, 000).

The typhoon has also affected 2,765 farmers tilling 517 hectares of agricultural lands.

Of the affected provinces in Eastern Visayas, Eastern Samar reported the biggest loss to its agriculture sector amounting to P71.51 million.

At least 2,059 farmers lost their farm products covering 72 hectares.

The province of Biliran, on the other hand, reported P5.80 million damage, affecting 225 farmers.

Samar province’s loss was pegged at P1.29 million, with at least 353 farmers affected.

In Leyte, P1.19 million worth of damages was logged, with 116 farmers affected.

The least affected was the province of Southern Leyte, which claimed to have a damage amounting to more than P154, 000.

Northern Samar has yet to submit its report.

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