Agri damage due to Ferdie, habagat hits P600M

Tropical Storm Ferdie (international name: Bebinca) and southwest monsoon (habagat) continue affecting the country’s farm sector as the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported that losses rose to P600.84 million. In its bulletin as of Thursday afternoon, the DA said 11,170 farmers in the regions of Mimaropa, Western Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula have been affected. The agency has yet to record losses due to Tropical Storms Gener and Helen.

READ: Storm Ferdie, habagat kill 6 persons, affect over 203,000

It estimated the volume of production loss at 27,247 metric tons covering 11,696 hectares of agricultural land. Rice contributed most to overall losses with 93.66 percent or P562.75 milion, the majority of which were in the reproductive and maturing stages. Corn followed with 3.17 percent or P19.04 million while the remaining 3.17 percent is attributed to high-value crops (P18.22 million) and livestock (P P819,200). “Best possible efforts are also being undertaken to carry out assistance and appropriate interventions to the affected farmers,” it said. “Furthermore, price monitoring is being conducted for possible changes in the prices of agricultural commodities,” it added.