Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar reported Monday that the initial damage wrought by Typhoon "Rolly" (international name "Goni") on the agricultural sector was estimated at P1.1 billion.
In a news briefing, Dar said the DA is closely monitoring the affected areas to determine the actual agricultural destruction caused by "Rolly" that struck a large portion of Southern Luzon and the Bicol region.
“Most of the commodities that have been badly damaged are rice, corn, high-value crops with almost 20,000 hectares and about 20,000 farmers affected and thus leading us to 1.1 billion of total damages during this typhoon Rolly,” Dar said.
Dar assured that the government would provide a total of 133,326 bags of rice seeds and 17,545 bags of corn seeds for replanting to the affected farmers.
He added that 2,000 kilograms of assorted vegetables will also be provided to the hardest-hit regions.