INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Damage to agriculture may reach more than P1 billion while over half a million individuals have been affected by successive typhoons and southwest monsoon over the weekend, the state weather bureau said on Monday.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Monday said the heavy rainfall and strong winds brought by southwest monsoon, or “habagat,” and Typhoon Hanna (international name: Haikui) and Supertyphoon Goring (Saola) have affected more than half-a-million people in Luzon and Central Visayas.
In its Monday situation bulletin, NDRRMC said around 514,153 individuals were negatively impacted in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) and Western Visayas.
Around 13,303 individuals out of the 500,000 were reportedly displaced from their homes.
The NDRRMC received reports of two fatalities from Western Visayas and Cordillera. No names were given as of press time. Another unidentified individual was injured in Central Luzon while another is reportedly missing in Western Visayas.
17,000 farmers affected
Meanwhile, nearly 24,763 hectares of crops were damaged, which put 17,000 farmers at a disadvantage. The cost of damage to livestock and agriculture is estimated at P584 million.
The government has provided P33.6 million worth of assistance to affected residents.
The state weather bureau said that Hanna exited the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on Monday morning.
The impact of Goring on the farm sector breached P1 billion even if it already left the PAR last week, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
The DA’s latest bulletin said agriculture damage caused by the typhoon soared to P1.07 billion as of Monday from P898.4 million reported over the weekend.
“The increase is due to the updated reports from Calabarzon and Western Visayas and the additional report from Mimaropa,” it added.
Damage assessed
As of writing, it is still assessing the extent of damage brought about by Goring in the agriculture sector.
So far, 31,060 farmers have been affected as Goring wiped out 46,811 metric tons of produce planted in 42,333 hectares of agricultural land.
Rice made up 84.8 percent of the reported losses, equivalent to P905.92 million. The volume of production loss is pegged at 36,794 MT spanning 36,373 ha of land.
Another staple food, corn, accounted for 13.8 percent or P147.43 million of the total, affecting 9,694 MT covering 5,892 ha.
The volume losses represent a small fraction of the total annual production target volume for rice and corn at 19.76 million MT and 9.30 million MT, respectively.
Other affected commodities are high-value crops (P12.5 million) and livestock and poultry (P2.59 million).