Damage to agri sector from Ompong reached P26.7-B, Piñol says

The damage incurred by the agricultural sector from Typhoon Ompong has reached P26,769,717,985, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said on Monday.

The rice sub-sector sustained the largest amount of damage at P14,534,562,756.

“According to the reports coming from different regions, the updated damage report is P26.7 billion. Ang pinakamalaki nito is rice, P14.5 billion; mais, P8.1 billion; high value crops, P3.4 billion ...” Piñol said.

“This is the highest damage to agriculture since Yolanda. In Yolanda, we have P35 billion,” the Cabinet official noted.

Additional production losses were incurred by fruit trees, amounting to P79,121,820; root crops, totaling P5,000, livestock, reaching P45,592,077; and fisheries, sustaining P2,353,032.

The total amount of damage sustained by the agriculture sector may be the financial numbers, Piñol noted.

“I think that should be it. Parang ‘yun na ’yun. It looks like that they (local government officials) have validated the numbers,” Piñol said. —VDS, GMA News