El Ni\u00F1o damage hits P4.3B

AGRICULTURAL damage caused by a weak El Niño went up further to P4.35 billion from the P1.33 billion recorded earlier, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Operations Center of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Sunday. Drought claimed 233,007 metric tons (MT) of rice and corn, up by 213 percent from 74,348 MT recorded on March 19. The area of drought-ridden agricultural lands also grew to 149,914 hectares, affecting 138,859 farmers and fisherfolk. Damage to the rice sector alone stood at P2.6 billion, affecting 108,845 rice farmers in 37 provinces. The estimated volume of production loss was pegged at 125,590 MT over 111,851 hectares of agricultural areas. For corn, the DA said damage and losses climbed to P1.66 billion or 107,417 MT, covering 37,643 hectares. About 30,014 corn farmers in 13 provinces were affected, it added. The affected regions included the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, Bicol, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato Province, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The DA’s DRRM Operations Center said a total of P95.875 million in financial assistance from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council had been allocated for the Survival and Recovery Assistance Program that would benefit 3,835 affected farmers. The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. had also paid P43.083 million to 3,534 farmers in Bicol, Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Western Visayas and Northern Mindanao, it added. Moreover, a total of P18.3 million was released for cloud seeding by the Philippine Air Force. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the cloud seeding would continue in Cagayan Valley, Davao and Soccsksargen in the coming weeks. “A minimum area of 23,293 hectares have been saved due to the 7,700 units of pump and engine sets distributed between 2017 and 2018, with an equivalent production volume of 90,100 MT of palay (unhusked rice) amounting to P1.53 billion,” the DA’s DRRM Operations Center said. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration has reported that El Niño had peaked and would start weakening in the next months.