Central Luzon crop losses estimated at P1.18B

Photo by Jay Morales/Malacañang Photo Bureau

Central Luzon bore the brunt of Typhoon “Gener” and heavy monsoon rains early this month, which resulted in agricultural losses estimated at P1.18 billion in 27 provinces in Luzon and the Visayas, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Production losses in rice, corn and high-value crops (HVC), as well as livestock and fisheries climbed to P723 million, the DA said in a statement Wednesday.

It said the most devastated provinces were Pampanga, Tarlac and Bulacan, with crop losses placed at P281 million, P163 million and P104 million, respectively.

Other affected provinces were Abra, Apayao, Mt. Province, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Aurora, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Rizal, Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro, all in Luzon; and Aklan, Antique, Capiz and Negros Occidental, all in the Visayas.

The rice sector suffered P693 million in total losses, followed by HVC, P11 million; corn, P10.8 million; fisheries, P7 million; and livestock, P277,000.

P458M to repair irrigation

The National Irrigation Administration said it would need some P458 million for the immediate repair of irrigation facilities to save standing crops in 53,203 hectares of land in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Cordillera Autonomous Region, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Davao and Soccsksargen.

Affected rice areas rose to 74,558 hectares, the DA said. It deemed 59,402 ha damaged but with a chance to recover, and 15,448 ha destroyed.

About 79 percent of the areas were still in the seedling or vegetative stages, it said. From the 15,508 ha in reproductive or maturity stage, some 19,940 metric tons of palay were deemed lost.

Of the 1,096 ha of cornfields affected, 93 percent had chances of recovery, the DA said. Some 780 metric tons of corn were lost from the 664 ha in the reproductive stage.

Damage to fisheries, put at P7.32 million, came from fishponds, fish cages and seaweeds.

Antique, Negros Occidental

In Western Visayas, at least P106 million worth of farm lands and infrastructure were destroyed or damaged, according to an Aug. 13 report of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in the region.

The losses included over P80 million in infrastructure and P26 million in agriculture.

Antique was the hardest-hit among the provinces in the region, with the damage reaching more than P18 million, followed by Negros Occidental (P7 million).

The OCD reported that 267 villages were flooded, affecting 9,459 families or 46,259 people. Five persons died and nine others were injured in last week’s floods, it said. With reports from DJ Yap and Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas