The next four to five months will be tough for the country’s food producers – especially farmers and fishermen – since the effect of the recent typhoons, especially Ulysses and Rolly, to the agriculture sector is expected to “spillover” up until next year.
This is according to Federation of Free Farmers National Manager Raul Montemayor, who said that in rice alone, farmers will need four months to recover — from planting to harvest, excluding the period needed to fix farms and irrigation canals.
“Definitely, the typhoons will have a significant effect on production both now and in the next production cycle. It will take time for the floods to recede and for farmers to repair their dikes and farms before they can start planting again,” Montemayor said in a text exchange.
“And it is not only the crops that have been damaged, but also their houses, farm machineries and other assets, and their other sources of income and livelihood,” he added.
To recall, it is only the agriculture sector among other sub-sectors in the Philippine economy that has managed to achieve a positive growth since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that from July to September, farm sector’s production managed to grow by 0.7 percent.
In August, Agriculture Secretary William Dar expressed hopes that the country's total agriculture production will grow by 1.5 percent by the end of 2020.
For Montemayor, however, the agriculture sector’s growth performance for the year is no longer “important or relevant” for now and that the government should instead focus on helping farmers survive and recover.
He criticized the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) move to reiterate the price control over certain agricultural products as the agency’s immediate response to Typhoon Ulysses, which made landfall in the country more than a week ago and had so far caused more than P4 billion damage and losses to the farm sector.
To recall, when President Rodrigo Roa Duterte placed the entire Luzon under a state of calamity due to the extensive damage caused by three successive typhoons that hit the country, the DA said it will coordinate with other government agencies for the strict implementation of suggested retail price (SRP) over certain farm products.
“DA’s immediate response to the typhoon is about price control. Farmers had been crying for help even before the typhoons but very little was done. So there is little to hope from DA,” Montemayor said.
“They have provided little information on how they will help farmers recover,” he added.
As of Friday, Ulysses’ total damage and losses to the farm sector already rose to P4.03 billion from the previously reported P3.84 billion, based on data from the DA's Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM).
For rice alone, 62,220 hectares of farms were affected as well as 124,437 metric tons (MT) of rice worth P1.98 billion.
So far, the government was also able to take note that there are more than 100,000 farmers and fisherfolk that were affected by the typhoon.
For its part, DA said the rehabilitation and recovery plans of its regional field offices are already being processed for funding under the Quick Response Fund (QRF).
The agency had also set aside P6 billion from its QRF to implement emergency interventions in areas affected by Ulysses, Rolly, and Quinta.
Last week, to help farmers and fishermen in Rizal and nearby provinces recover from Typhoon Ulysses and at the same time sustain the food security in the country’s capital city, the DA came out with a plan to convert some agricultural areas in the typhoon-hit places and help them become “food baskets” for Metro Manila.
"We are allocating an initial budget of P2.5 million for the 'Food Basket for Metro Manila Project' that will be piloted in at least 110 hectares of rice and vegetable farm areas in San Mateo," Dar said.
"This latest DA project will also cover other appropriate cities and municipalities in Rizal, including other nearby Region 4-A or Calabarzon provinces, surrounding Metro Manila," he added.
When asked why the DA wants San Mateo to be a “food basket for Metro Manila” when the province is susceptible to flooding, DA Spokesperson Noel Reyes said “most of farming areas are not flood-prone”.
“In fact, there are two watershed in the area and below them are farmlands that were not flooded. The areas that were badly hit by flood are mostly residential areas,” Reyes said.