Agricultural damage caused by ‘Agaton’ at P265.3 million, says DA
MANILA, Philippines — Tropical cyclone “Agaton” had so far caused an estimated P265.3 million worth of damage on agriculture, livestock, and fisheries, said the Department of Agriculture on Tuesday.
The damage and losses amounted to a volume of production loss currently at 16,532 metric tons (MT), affecting 2,132 farmers and fishers and 3,060 hectares of agricultural land.
Majority of the commodities affected were rice crops totalling up to 16,300 MT of volume loss worth P250.1 million.
The second is corn, with 103 hectares of land affected and damage worth P1.4 million.
Meanwhile, high value crops particularly, vegetables and bananas, suffered a total of 232 MT volume loss worth P13.9 million.
According to the DA, the following will be provided to the affected farmers and fishers:
- Rice, corn and assorted vegetable seeds for affected regions
- Drugs and biologics for livestock and poultry needs
- Survival and Recovery (SURE) program of Agricultural Credit Policy Council
- Available funds from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) to indemnify affected farmers
- Quick Response Fund (QRF) for the rehabilitation of affected areas.
As of 4:00 p.m, the eye of tropical depression “Agaton” was located in the vicinity of Llorente, Eastern Samar, carrying maximum sustained winds of 45 km per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 75 kph.
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