Damage to agriculture resulting from the impact of El Niño surged to P1.75 billion as of latest from only P357.38 million as at 25 February this year, according to the Department of Agriculture.
According to the DA’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center, the damage was wrought on 32,231 hectares of farmland tended by 29,437 farmers in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula and Soccsksargen.
This comprised of 48,332 metric tons of rice worth P1.13 billion; 18,966 MT of corn worth P317.86 million; 7,794 MT of high-value crops worth P305.55 million; and 32 heads of livestock and poultry worth over P59,000.
The DA said it already provided P379.06 million worth of assistance to hapless farmers cultivating mung beans in Negros Occidental and hybrid rice seeds and fertilizers in Western Visayas.
Financial assistance has also been extended to 71,795 farmers in the Mimaropa for a total P362.56 million.
Thirty-five rice farmers and 16 corn farmers in the Ilocos, Central Luzon and Mimaropa have been indemnified by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. with total amount of P1.24 million.
The DA in collaboration with other government agencies also conduct of cloud seeding operations to help ease water shortage, installed 570 water augmentation pumps, removed silt from irrigation canals, and encouraged farmers to adopt the wet-and-dry method of farming.
