Floods destroy P11-M rice in Leyte, but barely affect yields

TACLOBAN CITY — Floods brought by Tropical Storm “Sendong” destroyed at least P11 million worth of palay in Leyte, but regional officials of the Department of Agriculture said the damage would barely make a dent on the projected palay production of the province.

Rufino Ayaso, regional agriculture operations officer, said farms in 10 towns in Leyte had been flooded when Sendong struck, destroying palay in 2,733 hectares of the province’s 57,000 ha of rice fields.

The palay, he said, were in their vegetative stage, or had just been planted.

The floods, however, brought losses to at least 2,593 farmers in the towns of Tanauan, Carigara, Capoocan, Dagami, Dulag, Jaro, Julita, Mayorga, Tabon-tabon and Javier.

The DA regional office, Ayaso said, has projected a harvest of more than one  million metric tons for 2012, higher than last year’s 989,937 metric tons.  /INQUIRER