‘Odette’ damage to agri sector balloons to P11.5B

Three weeks after Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai) left thousands of people homeless and devastated livelihood and infrastructure, the agriculture sector continued to tally higher losses in the aftermath of the weather disturbance.

In its bulletin released on Friday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said the damage to the vital sector due to the typhoon surged to P11.5 billion.

The amount was more than twice the total cost of damage sustained by the sector, which amounted to over P5 billion, from all the storms that struck the Philippines last year excluding Odette.

So far, the livelihood of 405,921 farmers and fishers in the regions of Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Soccsksargen and Caraga have been affected.

The volume of production loss reached 257,672 metric tons covering 435,447 hectares of agricultural areas.

“Affected commodities include rice, corn, high value crops, coconut, sugarcane, abaca, livestock and fisheries. Damage has also been incurred in agricultural infrastructures, machineries and equipment,” it added.

Losses to fisheries and rice sectors hit P3 billion and P2.6 billion, respectively.

But Odette’s impact on high-value crops rose to P1.6 billion. Coconut (P1.5 billion) and the sugarcane sectors (P1.2 billion) took hits as well.

The damage to livestock and poultry stood at P535.4 million; irrigation and agri-facilities, P479.3 million; corn, P431.7 million; abaca, P310.3 million and machineries and equipment, P13.1 million.

Meanwhile, the agency’s financial assistance for affected farmers and fishers remained at P2.9 billion.