Imports seen as solution as agri losses hit P10B

MANILA, Philippines — The agriculture sector has suffered more than P10 billion in losses due to the series of typhoons that recently hit the country, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said in an interview on Monday.

Severe Tropical Storm Kristine and Super Typhoon Leon accounted for P9.81 billion in damages, based on data from the Department of Agriculture (DA), mostly in rice crops (P5.89 billion) and irrigation systems (P1.75 billion).

Succeeding Typhoons Nika and Ofel added losses of P248.47 million to the total, with high-value crops (P97.72 million) and rice (P49.08 million) accounting for most of the damage.

READ: Typhoon Pepito worsens crisis from back-to-back storms that devastated the northern Philippines

Farmers, fishers react

The DA has yet to report the impact of Super Typhoon Pepito on the sector. De Mesa, also the DA spokesperson, said that although the rice sector sustained substantial losses, “these can be easily compensated by our importation.”

As for vegetables, prices will remain high for some time as domestic farmers have yet to fully recover from the devastation brought about by successive weather disturbances, De Mesa said.

Farmers and fishers groups, however, reiterated their call for the government to stop rice and fish imports, noting that these did not result in lower prices.

Instead, they called for additional support for their members, who were also reeling from losses due to the recent typhoons.

“The price of imported rice has not decreased and the production cost for local rice remains high due to the government’s lack of support,” said Danilo Ramos, chair of the farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) on Monday.

The KMP is against the government’s plan to import more rice to offset the losses due to typhoons, with rice imports for this year possibly reaching around 4.5 million metric tons (MT), according to the DA.

For the KMP, importation “undermines local production and jeopardizes farmers’ livelihoods,” as it stressed the need for “immediate and significant compensation” for those affected.

“Instead of directly supporting local farmers to recover from the damages caused by recent typhoons, the government is relying on imports,” it said in a statement.

In another statement, the fishers’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) also decried the government’s importation of “galunggong” (round scad), which did not result in a decrease in prices.

“The retail price of galunggong remains to be P250 to P300 per kilogram amid the importation of around 35,000 MT of the same fish species,” it said.