Agricultural damage due to Enteng hits P659.01M

Damage and losses sustained by the country's agricultural sector following the onslaught of Tropical Storm Enteng have reached over P600 million, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported Friday.

In its typhoon situation bulletin, the DA said the value of production loss due to Enteng amounted to P659.01 million, equivalent to 28,788 metric tons (MT) of volume loss in 22,309 hectares of agricultural lands.

The weather disturbance affected 27,598 farmers in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Bicol, Western and Eastern Visayas.

Destroyed agricultural produce includes rice, corn, high-value crops, cassava, and livestock.

Rice sustained the most damage with value loss amounting to P624.06 million, equivalent to 26,736 MT of crops destroyed.

Corn and high-value crops followed with total value loss of P22.75 million and P10.41 million, respectively.

Cassava incurred losses worth P1.77 million, while livestock and poultry suffered a total value loss of P16,000.

The DA said its regional field offices, in collaboration with affected local government units and concerned disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) offices, are actively engaged in conducting thorough validation and assessment on the impact of Enteng in the agriculture and fisheries sector.

"Best possible efforts are also being undertaken to carry out assistance and appropriate interventions to the affected farmers and fisherfolk," it said.

The Agriculture department said it will promptly deploy the following forms of assistance:

• P202.86 million worth of assistance (seeds, bio-control measures, and farm tools) provided by DA Regional Field Offices
• Survival and Recovery (SURE) Loan Program from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) with loanable amount of up to P25,000 per farmer payable in three years at zero interest
• Available funds from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) to indemnify insured affected farmers

"The DA DRRM Operations Center will continuously provide updates regarding Severe Tropical Storm Enteng," it said. — VDV, GMA Integrated News