Losses from ‘Juan’ exceed P10 billion

Thursday, 28 October 2010 00:00

By James Konstantin Galvez, Reporter

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday reported that total damage to agriculture caused by super Typhoon Juan has reached P10.59 billion.

Based on consolidated reports from 21 provinces affected by the typhoon, the rice sector registered the biggest loss with P8 billion, followed by high-value commercial crops (HVCC) with P660 million and corn with P412 million.

Damage to the fisheries sector was pegged at P177.8 million and the livestock sector, P10.6 million, respectively.

Agricultural infrastructure and facilities lost P1.32 billion.

Among the hard-hit provinces, Pangasinan (P2.36 billion), Nueva Ecija (P1.59 billion) and Isabela (P1.28 billion) suffered the biggest losses, mainly palay (unhusked rice).

The Agriculture department said that Typhoon Juan caused the rice sector the most damage with P8 billion.

Lost by this sector were 468,546 metric tons (MT) from 404,827 hectares that were hit by the typhoon.

Destroyed were 6,898 hectares of rice lands, or 1.4 percent of the total area in the country.

The department said that 397,929 hectares of rice lands may still be recovered.

The 404,827 hectares represented 21.76 percent of the 1.86 million hectares projected to be harvested nationwide from October to December.

Estimated production loss of 468,546 MT was roughly 6 percent of the forecast production of about 7 million MT in the fourth quarter of 2010.

At least 23,021 hectares of cornfields were affected, with a loss of 30,378 MT.

Of the total area affected, 223 hectares, or 0.7 percent have no chance of recovery, while the rest could still recover

The 223 hectares represented 3.6 percent of the 645,695 hectares to be harvested in the fourth quarter.

Estimated loss was 30,378 MT, which accounted for 1.9 percent of the 1.6 million MT projected production for the period.

Also, some 6,371 hectares of HVCC were affected, of which 5,072 hectares (in Mountain Province, Benguet, La Union and Pangasinan) were planted to vegetables; 681 hectares to mango (in Pangasinan); and 609 hectares to banana (in Apayao).

Estimated loss was placed at 21,710 MT, worth P660 million.

The Agriculture department said that most of the damage to livestock and poultry were caused by deaths and loss of livestock (carabao, swine, goat, cattle) and poultry (duck, chicken, turkey, geese), worth P10.6 million.

The damage to fisheries sector reached P177.8 million in 12 provinces of Regions I, II and III and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

It came mainly from lost fishery resources from fishponds and fish cages that were destroyed by strong winds and rains.

Total area of croplands affected was 520,634 hectares in 21 provinces in four regions: CAR (Ifugao, Apayao, Mountain Province, Benguet, Kalinga and Abra); Region I (Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and La Union); Region II (Isabela, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino); and Region III (Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Aurora, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bulacan and Bataan).

According to the Agriculture department, regional field units (RFUs) are verifying data submitted by affected local government units (LGUs).

The data would be the basis for provision of DA assistance, initially consisting one bag (40 kilos) of certified palay seeds, to severely affected areas or farms without chance of recovery.

The DA through the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) will pay affected farmers whose insured crops were damaged by Typhoon Juan.

PCIC President Jovy Bernabe said that his agency will distribute indemnity checks, totaling P161 million, to about 17,200 insured rice and corn farmers within 15 to 20 days.