Department of Agriculture (DA) Sec. William Dar disclosed on Tuesday, Jan 18, that the country's agriculture sector needs more funds from the national government to enhance the growth of the country's crop sector and aid farmers amid the onslaught of typhoon "Odette".

This, as Dar reported that the typhoon's damage in the agriculture sector nationwide has now climbed to over P13 billion, with the fishery sector as the most affected.

“Number one most affected is the fishery sector at P3.97 billion, next is the rice subsector at P2.56 billion, third is coconut industry at P1.62 billion, fourth is the high-value crops (HVC) P1.5 billion, sugar cane crops P1.15 billion and others like infrastructure corn and livestock at P2.46 billion," Dar said in an interview over Laging Handa.

According to him, regions in Visayas and Mindanao are the most affected.

To aid farmers and fishers affected, Dar said they allocated almost P3 billion assistance.

But despite the damage, Dar said country has more than enough food supply for the next 115 days in rice alone.

He also highlighted that despite Typhoon Odette's aftermath, the country's rice production got a new record target of 20 million metric tons (MT) in 2021 — higher than 2020's record of 19.4 million MT.

"Rice production is very impressive. For poultry, we are more than sufficient; going back to pork, we have a combination of supply from local producers and frozen pork, so we have more than enough inventory this quarter," Dar said.

However, the DA chief said there would be more growth in the country's agriculture sector if it were not for the infestation of African Swine Fever (ASF) and if the national government provided more funding for the department.

"I believe with all respect in what they say that this is one sector that is underinvested and underfunded We could be better if there is higher budgetary support from the government and investments coming from the private sector," Dar said, adding that the department only received over P85 billion budget for 2022.