Agri damage due to El Niño now at almost P8B — NDRRMC

The damage and production losses incurred by the agriculture sector due to the El Niño phenomenon has reached almost P8 billion as of late April, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Friday.

In its situation report, the NDRRMC said the estimated cost of damage to the crops sector reached P7.962 billion in regions CAR, I, II, III, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, V, VI, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, and BARMM.

A total of 247,610 farmers were affected by brought or dry spell in regions CAR, I, II, II, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, V, VI, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, CARAGA, and BARMM.

The P7.962 billion damage to agriculture sector as of April 25 is almost P3 billion higher than the P5.05-billion losses recorded on April 2.

In a separate report, the Department of Agriculture-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center said the volume of production loss due to El Niño stood at 447,889 metric tons, covering 277,889 hectares of agricultural land.

Production loss to rice sector reached P4.04 billion, affecting 144,202 hectares of land with a total of 191,761 metric tons of volume loss.

For the corns sector, total cost of damage reached P3.89 billion, covering 133,007 hectares of land with 254,766 metric tons of volume loss. — Ted Cordero/RSJ, GMA News