Rice production target in Eastern Visayas not affected by floods, says agri exec

Eastern Visayas map. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

TACLOBAN CITY — Despite the massive flooding in Eastern Visayas, the target palay output for this year remains achievable, according to a regional executive of the Department of Agriculture.

Data of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Eastern Visayas show that floods inundated 21,225 hectares of rice fields across the region, affecting 20,764 farmers.

Damage was pegged at P386.49 million.

But Larry Sultan, regional technical director for operations of DA-Eastern Visayas, said the impact of the floods was not significant for their palay production.

“The three Samar provinces are not really rice-producing provinces. Their contribution to the region’s palay production is not that big, unlike Leyte, which is considered the rice granary of the region,” he said.

Samar, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar suffered the most out of the six provinces in the region.

In terms of losses, Eastern Samar lost P218.13 million in damage, followed by Samar at P100.11 million, and Northern Samar at P32.74 million.

Three Samar provinces contribute around 34 percent of the palay production in the region.

Sultan said they had provided assistance to the affected palay farmers.

For the past weeks, heavy rains spawned by a low-pressure area hit the region, damaging rice fields, among others.

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