More than 20,000 farmers in Mindanao whose crops were destroyed by Typhoon Vinta (international code name Tembin) will receive P182 million in insurance payments from the government, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
“A total of P182 million in insurance payments will be ready for release this week to over 20,000 farmers in six regions in Mindanao,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said in a Facebook post.
“Payments for farmers in the Zamboanga Peninsula and Northern Mindanao will be released on January 4 and 5 when I and other DA and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources visit the typhoon-devastated areas,” he added.
Citing Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) President Jovy Bernabe, Piñol said the bulk of the total insurance payments, or nearly 30 percent, will be given to farmers in Region 12.
Piñol also said 5,284 farmers in the Davao region would get insurance payments totaling P50.1 million. The PCIC pegged the indemnity for 3,348 typhoon-affected farmers in Zamboanga Peninsula at P18.5 million.
The PCIC, an attached agency of the DA, will insure 5,872 farmers in Region 12 amounting to P53.4 million. A total of 4,439 farmers in Northern Mindanao will also be insured.
Piñol said 1,735 farmers in Caraga region and 162 farmers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao affected by Vinta will also be covered by the PCIC.
He added he is scheduled to meet the DA’s regional directors in Mindanao to assess and evaluate the extent of the damage caused by the typhoon.
This would allow the DA to determine what other interventions could be delivered in the typhoon-affected areas during his two-day sortie in Zamboanga Peninsula and Northern Mindanao, according to Piñol.
A report from the DA indicated that as of December 28, typhoon-affected famers have incurred losses amounting to P234.91 million.
The department said the typhoon affected 19,240 hectares of agricultural areas in Regions 9, 11, 12 and 13. The production loss was pegged at 4,803 metric tons.
Image credits: Aclimah Disumala via AP