DAMAGE to the farm sector by the weak El Niño has gone up to P5.05 billion, with estimated volume losses of 276,568 metric tons (MT) and 164,672 farmers affected, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Tuesday.
The hotter weather has now damaged 177,743 hectares of agricultural land in 14 regions, the latest report by the DA-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Operations Center showed.
More than half of the damage was recorded in the rice sector with an estimated volume loss of 125,590 MT valued at P2.69 billion, the report showed.
At least 108,845 rice farmers planting on 111,851 hectares in 37 provinces nationwide were affected by the ongointg weak El Niño, the report added.
The remaining damage caused by the weather phenomenon was recorded in the corn sector with production losses amounting to P2.36 billion.
At least 55,827 corn farmers planting on 65,892 hectares in 17 provinces nationwide lost 150,978 MT of output due to El Niño.
The DA-DRRMC OpCen recorded the highest farm damage in Cagayan Valley with rice and corn production losses estimated at a total of P1.403 billion with 69,914 farmers affected.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the over P5 billion reported farm losses could now be the peak of the damage of the weak El Niño to the sector.
Piñol said the hike in the damage reported could be attributed to farmers who risked another planting round, despite threats of hotter weather, in order to recoup their 2018 production losses from storms.
“The damage is just huge because there are farmers who risked from last year. We made enough effort, [an] information campaign that there will be El Niño coming but we cannot blame them for taking a chance [in recovering their losses last year],” he said in an interview on Tuesday.
The DA has set aside at least P2 billion as financial assistance in forms of loans and indemnities to the El Niño-affected farmers, Piñol said.
He maintained that the DA doesn’t expect the damage caused by El Niño to the farm sector “will have an adverse impact” on the national production.
He thinks the country can still hit a record-high 20 million MT palay output this year despite losses of rice farmers.
National Economic and Development Authority Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie G. Edillon told the BusinessMirror that the latest P5-billion farm damage report is still within the government’s expectations.
Image credits: Suzanne June G. Perante