FILIPINO farmers and fisherfolk have now incurred losses of P4.35 billion—from the initial P150 million—with an estimated production volume loss of 233,066 metric tons (MT) due to the El Niño climate phenomenon, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The latest report released by the DA-Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Operations Center (DRRM-OpCen) showed the hotter weather from what has been described as a “weak El Niño” has damaged 149,494 hectares of farms and affected 138,859 farmers and fishermen.
The rice sector accounted for 61.84 percent of the total reported damage as it incurred losses amounting to P2.69 billion, the DA reported.
About 108,845 farmers planting rice on 11,851 hectares in 37 provinces, with an estimated total output of 125,590 MT, were affected by the El Niño.
Damage to the corn sector has climbed to P1.66 billion with reported volume production losses of 107,417 MT in 37,643 hectares of farms. About 30,014 corn farmers were affected by the unfavorable weather condition.
The report indicated that the weak El Niño has already affected 14 regions, with the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) suffering the highest production losses, as it accounted for 31 percent of the total damage reported.
Interventions
The report also indicated P95.875 million worth of financial assistance has been allotted by the Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC) under its Survival and Recovery Assistance Program. About 3,835 El Niño-affected farmers are expected to benefit from the said amount.
“The processing of documents for areas declared under State of Calamity due to El Niño [Rizal, Occidental Mindoro, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Cotabato, Maguindanao, Negros Occidental] are ongoing,” the report read.
Furthermore, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) has already paid P43.083 million in indemnities to 3,534 affected farmers in Regions 1, 3, 4A, 6 and 10.
“An amount of P18.3 million was released for cloud-seeding operations to RFOs [regional field offices] and Philippines Air Force,” the report added.
The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) expects this year’s mild El Niño to have no significant impact on GDP as well as inflation, and thus cost the government less on interventions.
In a briefing last Friday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia told reporters the impact on GDP will be minimal, considering that the agriculture sector only accounts for about 8 to 9 percent of GDP growth. The farm sector is expected to bear the brunt of El Niño’s impact this year. Initially, Neda Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning Carlos Bernardo O. Abad Santos said the estimate is that the weather phenomenon will cut about 0.2 percentage points off of GDP growth. But this estimate has been factored in on the latest growth target adjustments made by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
“I think by definition, this is a weaker El Niño phenomenon. The spending for the event will be lower than during 2015 and 2016. [As for] the impact on GDP, we will have to do some more pencil pushing to come up with better guesstimates…Agriculture only accounts for 8 to 9 percent of gross value added of GDP,” Pernia said.
The Roadmap for Addressing the Impacts of El Niño (RAIN) will cost less than the P19 billion spent on interventions when the last El Niño hit the country in 2015 and 2016, according to Neda Undersecretary for Regional Development Adoracion M. Navarro.
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