Agriculture-related businesses and farmers incurred losses amounting to at least P94.3 million, as they were unable to sell their produce during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period in Luzon, according to a government study.
The We Heal as One report, released recently by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), showed the impact of ECQ on agriculture and other economic sectors.
The report was prepared by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases-Technical Working Group for Anticipatory and Forward Planning (IATF–TWG for AFP).
The report contained the findings of a survey conducted by Neda in April where about 6,863 participated for the business rapid assessment survey for the agriculture and fisheries sector.
The report showed that Calabarzon accounted for the biggest chunk of the losses in the farm sector at P26.33 million, followed by Central Luzon with P24.84 million.
The report indicated that the high- value crops (HVC) sector bore the brunt of the pandemic with losses reaching P36.82 million, followed by livestock raisers with P24.482 million.
”For cereals, the aggregated loss is P24.22 million or 25.7 percent of the losses, almost half [48 percent] of which came from Central Luzon,” the report read. The fisheries sector incurred losses amounting to P8.78 million for their unsold catch, according to the 76-page report.
The Neda’s survey showed that only 65 percent of the respondents, or about 6 in 10 farm producers and businesses, said they were able to sell their produce during the ECQ, according to the report.
“The disruption in agricultural and subsequent trading activities can be traced to additional ECQ rules being imposed by some LGUs which are, oftentimes, even more stringent than the rules set by the IATF-EID [IATF-Emerging Infectious Diseases],” the report read.
“A large percentage of respondents [86 percent] were still able to continue their agricultural activities. The remaining 14 percent whose activities were disrupted during the ECQ is equivalent to 1,169 hectares that were not planted,” it added.
The report showed that majority, or about 66 percent, of respondents for the agricultural survey were male and about 39 percent were aged 51 to 65 years old.
Around 20 percent of the total respondents are from Western Visayas, followed by Central Luzon (18 percent), and Calabarzon (12 percent), according to the report.
Respondents from other regions of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao made up 19 percent, 12 percent, and 19 percent of the total, respectively.
“More than half [52 percent] of these respondents were engaged in high-value crops farming, while the rest were into rice farming [26 percent], livestock and poultry raising [12 percent], corn farming [6 percent] and fisheries [5 percent],” it read.