MANILA, Philippines--DAMAGE TO AGRICULTURE DUE TO THE EL NIÑO weather phenomenon has reached P1.4 billion, with corn crops bearing the brunt of the extreme heat, according to field estimates from the Department of Agriculture.

Official documents showed that the total damage reported as of Feb. 8 included P1.05 billion worth of corn, P343 million worth of rice and P1.39 million worth of high-value crops. Volume-wise, 80,930 tons of corn, 20,183 tons of rice and 182 tons of high-value crops such as fruits and vegetables have been damaged.

However, Rodolfo Guieb, special assistant to the undersecretary for field operations at agriculture department, stressed that there was ?no cause for alarm yet? since the damage was still within government projections.

Earlier, the province of Isabela was placed under a state of calamity due to agricultural losses caused by the El Niño dry spell.

?We haven?t had rain since December,? Philippine Maize Federation vice president Isidro Acosta, who is based in Isabela, told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Acosta said the government had tried to organize cloud-seeding operations but the skies remained clear. ?There are no clouds to seed,? he said.

According to Cagayan Valley regional police commander Chief Supt. Roberto Damian, who is also chair of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, the government has taken to giving free fuel to farmers for use in irrigation pumps.

Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas has confirmed that irrigation pumps were being lent to farmers in areas where cloud seeding was not possible.

The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics reported last month that corn production for the January-June 2010 period was forecast at 3.21 million metric tons (MT), or 0.29-percent less than the 2009 level.

The decline was attributed to a 1.43-percent contraction or 17,000 hectares of harvest area.

?This could largely be observed in Cagayan Valley, Western Visayas and Soccsksargen,? BAS said in a report.

In 2009, corn managed to post a 1.53-percent increase in production given increases in area harvested and yield per hectare.

Meanwhile, rice production for calendar year 2009 went down 3.31 percent from the 2008 level owing to the decrease in yield brought by the adverse effects of Typhoon ?Pepeng? and Tropical Storm ?Ondoy.?

A 1.7-percent decline is also expected for rice in the first half of 2010.

Damage to rice crops could prompt the Philippines to import three million tons of rice under a ?worst-case scenario,? according to officials of the state grains agency, the National Food Authority.