Agri dept to provide Mindanao farmers crop insurance

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Mindanao farmers  who lost their livelihood due to Typhoon Pablo  will be receiving a total of P21 million in crop insurance to tide them over until the next cropping season, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala announced here Friday.

Alcala said the affected farmers, whose numbers he did not specify, will start receiving their share in two weeks’ time.

However, Alcala, who accompanied President Benigno Aquino III to Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, said the Department of Agriculture’s assistance for the rehabilitation of devastated areas might be limited by lack of funds.

He said only P300 million remained of the department’s quick-response fund, which was why the government was appealing to the private sector to help in the rehabilitation of the devastated areas.

Alcala said seedlings could be sourced from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Northern Mindanao and Central Mindanao.

He said the plan on the sourcing of seedlings would be finalized when he returns here next week.

Alcala said Pablo destroyed a total of P7.93 billion in agricultural crops in Mindanao.

Of the total damage, P5.6 billion was in banana production areas alone, especially those maintained by small growers.

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association said the losses suffered by banana farmers were more than the figure that the department reported.

Stephen Antig, the association’s executive director, told the Inquirer by phone that their estimates put the losses at P8 billion.

The Department of Agriculture, Alcala said, estimated that losses in the fisheries sector totaled P24.99 million.

“We need to immediately provide our growers the necessary intervention to help them recover and ensure continued supply of bananas in the coming months,” he said.

Alcala was worried that if the industry could not meet the needed volume, “the markets might pull out and not come anymore.”

“For now, they would understand, but this should not take long,” he said.

Antig downplayed Alcala’s fears of foreign markets sourcing bananas away from the Philippines.

“Usually our export volume during the last quarter is low. During the cold months people in our markets do not eat bananas,” he said. But if China decides to relax its protocol on Philippine bananas, “then we will have a shortage of supply.”