AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. said the initial estimate of damage to agriculture caused by Super Typhoon Nando (international name: Ragasa) and the southwest monsoon (habagat) is P1.38 billion.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is releasing rice stocks and other aid to over 55,000 farmers and fisherfolk in regions affected by the storms.
The damage estimate was compiled from nine regions, with 47,723 hectares of cropland, the DA said.
Cagayan province suffered the most farm damage at P700 million, the DA said, citing its own Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Center.
The center estimated that 109,997 metric tons of rice, corn, high-value crops, and livestock have been written off.
Aid for distribution includes 2.4 million sacks of rice, 142,219 bags of rice seed, 90,320 bags of corn seed, 40,518 kilograms of vegetable seed, 1.65 million tilapia, bangus (milkfish), and carp fingerlings, and livestock and poultry drugs and biologics.
Loans from the Survival and Recovery program will amount to as much as P25,000 per beneficiary, payable over three years at zero interest.
Some P236 million has also been allocated to compensate 25,800 farmers, of which P206 million will cover rice-related losses.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Mr. Laurel were in Cagayan to distribute aid to around 12,740 farmers on Sept. 27.
The DA will release its initial impact assessment for typhoon Opong (international name: Bulaoi) on Sept. 29. — Andre Christopher H. Alampay