Agri damage from ‘Tino’ breaches P555M

Agricultural damage from the onslaught of Typhoon “Tino” (international name: Kalmaegi) has reached P555.56 million on Thursday, up from P159.14 million reported on Nov. 8, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

In its Nov. 13 bulletin, the DA said the weather disturbance affected plantations tilled by 20,362 farmers in the regions of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, and Northern Mindanao.

The typhoon damaged 21,971 metric tons of farm produce planted in 10,634 hectares of agricultural land.

According to the DA, losses were recorded in rice, corn, high value crops, cassava, livestock and poultry, agricultural infrastructure, and machinery and equipment.

Rice farms devastated

Among commodities, rice accounted for 40.36 percent of the overall crop damage with P224.24 million. Most of the damaged rice crops are in their reproductive and maturity stages.

High-value crops and corn posted P189.26 million and P129.17 million in losses, respectively.

The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) earlier said it had set aside around P251 million to compensate insured farmers affected by Tino, which battered the country early this month and before Supertyphoon “Uwan” (Fung-wong) struck last week.

The amount covers 32,247 insured farmers in nine regions—Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Negros Island Region, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula and Northern Mindanao. Almost a third, or 10,352 of the affected farmers, came from Eastern Visayas provinces.

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PCIC president Jovy Bernabe said the overall losses were valued at P56.7 million for rice, P42.3 million for corn, and P74.3 million for high-value crops based on the state-run firm’s rapid assessment conducted from Nov. 4 to Nov. 7 in these regions.

Aside from fast-tracking insurance claims, the DA has prepared P422.8-million worth of farm inputs (rice, corn and high-value crops); P66,990 worth of animal feed and supplements; and P1.51 million worth of “bangus” (milkfish), tilapia and carp fingerlings for affected farmers and fishers.

The National Food Authority has prepositioned 2.57 million bags of rice stocks for distribution to local governments and other relief agencies.