Egay agricultural damage nears P3 billion, but food supply assured
The Central Luzon Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC 3) conducted an aerial survey of the provinces of Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Bulacan, and Bataan on Sunday, July 30, 2023. (Photo from the Facebook page of the Office of Civil Defense Central Luzon)
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has estimated the damage wrought by Typhoon Egay (international name: Doksuri) at nearly P3 billion, although it said that additional losses were expected in areas affected by continuous rains and strong winds.
In its latest bulletin issued on Tuesday, the DA placed the agricultural losses due to the weather disturbance at P2.89 billion, up from the P1.94 billion reported previously.
Rice accounted for 38.9 percent of the total at P1.13 billion, with some 33,063 metric tons of produce spanning 92,179 hectares affected.
Next was corn at P998.2 million, equivalent to 34.4 percent; infrastructure (irrigation facilities and farm structures), P351.7 million; high-value crops, P235.6 million; fisheries, P175.4 million; and livestock and poultry, P11.9 million.
Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) director Gerald Glenn Panganiban, however, said there was no reason for consumers to panic as the country had enough food supply despite the agricultural losses.
Resilience
“It will take us a bit of time to recover but owing to the resilience of our farmers… when farmer representatives from Region 2 visited, they are saying that farmers have started to rebuild,” Panganiban said at an event held in Makati City.
“Filipinos are very resilient. With the help of the government, the private sector [and] LGUs (local government units), I think we can recover rapidly from this,” he told reporters.
Pablo Luis Azcona, the acting Sugar Regulatory Administration administrator, said that Egay also damaged some sugar cane plantations, although the impact on the industry was expected to be “minimal.”
Based on the DA bulletin, a total of 142,365 farmers and fishers were affected in the following regions:
- Cordillera
- Ilocos
- Cagayan Valley
- Central Luzon
- Calabarzon (composed of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon provinces)
- Mimaropa (Mindoro Oriental and Occidental, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan provinces)
- Western Visayas
- Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani provinces and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, and Kidapawan)
- Caraga (Agusan del Sur and Norte, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Sur and Norte, and the cities of Butuan, Bayugan, Bislig, Cabadbaran, Surigao, and Tandag).
Egay also wiped out 98,217 MT of commodities, including rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock and poultry, and fisheries covering 163,722 ha of agricultural areas. Farm and fishery infrastructures, as well as fishing paraphernalia likewise took a hit.
Support for farmers
Panganiban said the BPI had started distributing urban agriculture kits and providing support to affected farmers. A total of 111,873 bags of rice seeds, 14,426 bags of corn seeds, and 2,582 kilograms of assorted vegetable seeds were available for distribution, he added.
The DA was also prepared to provide drugs and biologics for livestock and poultry, while the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources would distribute P62,000 worth of tilapia, carp and catfish fingerlings to affected fisherfolk.
