WIPED OUT Crops planted under coconut trees were wiped out by floods in Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur. —Gerald Mamasalagat/contributor
COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — Mindanao posted at least P378.4-million worth of damage to agriculture due to torrential rains that battered a large section of the island last week, reports from local governments showed.
Officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said that based on assessments done by local governments, they had accounted, as of July 21, P323.4-million worth of damage to agriculture, with some 8,388 hectares of croplands wiped out by floods.
Reports said this affected the livelihood of 10,952 farmers.
READ: Bangsamoro folk told to brace for more floods
The damage is heaviest in Maguindanao del Sur province where some 2,736 families are still staying in 24 evacuation centers. The floods, lasting for at least three days, submerged communities and farms in 17 of the province’s 22 towns.
Due to the massive floods, Maguindanao del Sur officials placed the province under a state of calamity.
Apart from Maguindanao del Sur, flooding also hit Maguindanao del Norte and Basilan provinces, most of the eight towns in the region’s Special Geographic Area that comprise villages that formerly belonged to Cotabato province, and the regional capital Cotabato City.
In Zamboanga City, authorities recorded at least P52.5 million in crop losses and P2.5-million worth of damage to aquaculture and seaweed farms due to last week’s floods and landslides spawned by continuous heavy rains.
But local leaders rejected earlier calls for the declaration of a state of calamity due to the widespread damage throughout the city’s 32 villages.
According to Elmeir Apolinario, city disaster risk reduction and management officer, the local government has enough resources to respond to the calamity.
DA reports
On Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said reports reaching the agency showed damage and losses to agriculture due to Typhoon Carina (international name: Gaemi) and the enhanced southwest monsoon, or “habagat,” reached P156.79 million, affecting more than 7,000 farmers.
In a statement, the DA’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center said the figures came from its field offices in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos) and Caraga regions.
Production losses reached 1,096 metric tons (MT) from 8,821 ha of affected farmlands, with 45 percent of these having no chance of recovery, the DA said.
The biggest loss was in rice production, at P145.36 million, with the affected area pegged at 8,596 ha and volume loss reaching 856 MT. Losses in corn production reached 21 MT with a total value of P2.85 million. Damage in high-value crops was pegged at P8.5 million.
The DA said the figures would still be validated.
To cushion the impact and assist local producers, the DA said it would provide thousands of bags of rice, corn and vegetable seeds to affected farmers.
The survival and recovery loan program from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council would also be activated, with a loanable amount of up to P25,000. The DA said it had prepared quick response funds for the rehabilitation of affected areas.
Carina, which has been classified into a super typhoon on Wednesday afternoon as it headed to Taiwan, has intensified the southwest monsoon since Tuesday, causing heavy rains that triggered floods and landslides in Luzon.