Damage to agricultural crops and infrastructure due to the onslaught of Tropical Storm Crising and the southwest monsoon could surpass P1 billion, the National Irrigation Administration said on Tuesday, July 22.
Partial reports reaching the NIA showed that damage to crops has so far reached P339.3 million while damage to farm infrastructure has amounted to P866 million, NIA Deputy Administrator Josephin Salazar said in a briefing.
Losses and damage were recorded in 31,172.23 hectares of agricultural lands in the regions of Cordillera, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, and Western Visayas, as well as those living in the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS) area, Salazar said.
She said 23,385 farmers, farm workers and fisherfolk were impacted by agricultural losses.
The Department of Agriculture’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center has so far validated crop damage and losses of up to P134.66 million, as of 8 a.m., Tuesday, July 22. The amount confirmed by the DA was 38.9 percent higher than the P96.90 million recorded as of 9 a.m. on Monday.
The DA-attached agency’s report showed that 6,377 farmers in 8,035 hectares lost 412 metric tons (MT) of agricultural produce and inputs.
Palay losses reached 3,075 metric tons worth P121.88 million in 7,991 hectares, while corn losses reached 243 metric tons worth P5.34 million in 99 hectares, the DA said.
Meanwhile, losses of high value crops piled up to 94 metric tons valued at P4.53 million in 25 hectares, while the livestock sector lost 262 heads of chicken, swine, cattle, carabaos, goat, ducks, sheep and turkey worth P2.85 million, the DA reported.
The DA also received reports of 10 fishermen losing P44,950 in total, due to the damage on their tilapia and milkfish fingerlings, a motorized boat and a fishpond dike. A metric ton of cassava worth P9,000 in 0.10-hectare land was also reported lost, the DA said.
The DA said it has so far received and validated data from the regions of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol and Western Visayas and expected more damage reports in its ongoing field assessment and validation.
Dams’ spillover
Salazar warned that many of the dams, monitored by the NIA, especially in the Central Luzon area, were already beyond the spilling level and had started to discharge water, which exacerbated floods in surrounding areas.
Among dams that had spillovers were the Gumain Dam in Floridablanca in Pampanga, and the Tarlac Diversion Dam, in Tarlac City, which surpassed its spilling level by a few meters.
Farm rehabilitation
The DA is now focusing on the rehabilitation and recovery of damaged agricultural farms. It has allocated P495.4 million in agricultural inputs, including rice, corn, and vegetable seeds, to help farmers replant and recover from the destruction left by Crising and the southwest monsoon.
The assistance will mainly benefit farmers in the regions of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Western Visayas, the DA said in a statement on Tuesday.
