Just due to Super Typhoon Rolly alone, the agriculture sector already incurred as much as P3 billion worth of damage and losses, bringing the sector's total damage in the span of two weeks to P6 billion.
Based on the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (DRRM), Rolly's total damage and losses to the farm sector is now at P2.94 billion, affecting 31,496 farmers and 65,999 hectares of agricultural areas.
Volume of production loss is now at 125,664 metric tons (MT), with rice, corn, abaca, high value crops (assorted vegetables, cassava, banana and other fruit trees), and livestock as the affected commodities.
Agri-facilities in Central Luzon, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, Bicol Region and Eastern Visayas were also destroyed because of the typhoon.
DA-DRRM's latest report brought Rolly and Typhoon Quinta's combined damage and losses to the agriculture sector to P5.50 billion.
The two typhoons also affected 79,360 farmers in total and 154,251 hectares of agricultural areas in Regions 3, 5, 6, 8, CALABARZON, and MIMAROPA. Volume of production loss is at 271,240 MT.
According to the DA, Quinta and Rolly caused a combined volume production loss of 164,915 MT of palay, which accounts to 1.96 percent of the fourth quarter projected palay production of 8.4 million MT.
Meanwhile, the DA, through the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), has alloted P592.4 million as indemnification fund for 32,761 Bicol farmers, whose insured crops were damaged by Rolly.
This was according to Agriculture Secretary William Dar, who was recently in Albay to lead the distribution of P90-million worth of various assistance to affected farmers and fishers.
The assistance included seeds of hybrid rice, corn and assorted vegetables, urea fertilizer, farm implements, and fishing gears and paraphernalia.
To be specific, the PCIC-insured farmers and fishers in Bicol region will receive insurance claims, ranging from P10,000 to P15,000 for their crops, farm equipment, fishing boats, and gears damaged by Rolly.
Dar also said that affected farmers and fishers can also avail of an emergency and rehabilitation loan worth P25,000 from Survival and Recovery (SURE) loan program of Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC).
The DA-ACPC has particularly allotted an initial P100 million for Bicol. The loan is non-collateral, has zero interest and is payable in 10 years.