ALMOST 80,000 farmers in six regions incurred losses amounting to P5.5 billion from the combined damage caused by Typhoon Quinta and and Supertyphoon Rolly to the agriculture sector in recent weeks.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Quinta and Rolly affected 154,251 hectares of agricultural areas with an estimated production volume loss of 272,240 metric tons (MT), based on its latest assessment report as of 6 p.m. of November 4.
“The affected commodities include rice, corn, abaca, high value crops, fisheries, livestock, irrigation and agri-facilities. All the reported damage and losses values are still subject to validation,” it said.
For Rolly alone, the total damage and losses have now reached P2.94 billion, affecting 31,496 farmers and 65,999 hectares of land, according to the DA.
“Volume of production loss is at 125,664 metric tons. The affected commodities include rice, corn, abaca, high value crops [assorted vegetables, cassava, banana and other fruit trees], livestock and agri-facilities in Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol Region and Eastern Visayas,” it added.
The DA said the damage to the agriculture sector by Quinta remained at P2.56 billion.
“The damaged palay production areas from both TY ‘Quinta’ and STY ‘Rolly’ is at 95,300 ha wherein 79.44 percent [75,708 ha] of these areas were planted this 2020 wet season cropping, while the remaining 20.56 percent [19,592 ha] were planted for the 2020-2021 dry season cropping,” it said.
“The remaining rice areas to be harvested in affected regions is 767,365 ha or 37.02 percent of the wet season planted areas,” it added.
Damage to the abaca sector due to Rolly has now reached P1 billion with 39,790 hectares of area being affected with a production volume loss of 12,918 MT, according to the DA.
The BusinessMirror earlier reported that abaca farmers already reeling from Covid-induced market problems must now grapple with more losses after Supertyphoon Rolly battered Catanduanes, the country’s top producer of the prized crop for export.
Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFida) estimated that the damage caused by Rolly to Catanduanes would cause a steeper decline in the total abaca output this year. Catanduanes accounts for 30 percent of annual abaca output.
PhilFida Executive Director Kennedy T. Costales told the BusinessMirror that he expects total abaca output this year to decline by 30 percent to a 20-year low of 50,000 MT. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/11/03/rolly-hits-abaca-hard-20-year-decline-seen/)
