The agricultural damage and losses incurred by the Philippines due to typhoon “Karding” (international code name: Noru) climbed to P2.95 billion, according to the latest report of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In its eight bulletin on Karding, the DA said it has now recorded agricultural damage and losses in Western Visayas, increasing the number of regions affected by the super typhoon to seven.
The DA added that 164,217 hectares of farms with an estimated production loss of 154,734 metric tons were affected by Karding across the regions of Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, CALABARZON, Bicol Region and Western Visayas.
The DA said at least 103,522 farmers and fisherfolk lost income because of the devastation caused by the typhoon.
“Affected commodities include rice, corn, high value crops, livestock and poultry, and fisheries. Damage has also been incurred in agricultural infrastructures, machineries and equipment. These values are subject to validation,” the DA Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center (DA-DRRM OpCen) said in its bulletin.
The DA-DRRM OpCen said the damage and losses in the rice sector has reached P2.02 billion with total affected area at 159,251 hectares and a volume of production loss at 133,294 MT.
However, the DA-DRRM OpCen said that the production loss only accounts for 0.66 percent of the country’s total rice production target this year at 20.25 million MT.
“While for corn, damage and losses amounted to P65.4 million with affected area at 2,002 hectares and volume of production loss at 2,634 MT that represents 0.05 percent of the annual total production target volume for corn, which is 5.11 MMT,” it added.
In a related development, the Federation of Free Farmers urged the government to fast track the distribution of various interventions, such as income and production subsidies, to help farmers and fisherfolk cope with the impact of Karding.
“Support will be in the form of income support, crop insurance, free seeds as well as subsidized credit, fertilizer and fuel under the regular and special programs of the Department of Agriculture,” FFF national president Dioscoro A. Granada said.
FFF Secretary-General Anacleto Mejares said the government should ease the rules covering the distribution of fuel subsidies to fisherfolk and farmers nationwide.
“Problems include delayed distribution of fuel subsidy cards and pin codes, distant location and limited number of gas stations with point-of-service counters for swiping of cards, and withdrawal of fuel only in kind rather than in cash,” Mejares said.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila