The damage wrought by Typhoon Odette in agriculture has now reached to P8 billion as more reports were received by the Department of Agriculture (DA) as of Tuesday evening, Dec. 28.
Based on the report from the DA's Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DA-DRRM) Operation Center, a total of 113,479 farmers and fishermen were affected. The volume of production loss was at 171,222 metric tons (MT) in 341,280 hectares of agricultural areas.
“Affected commodities include rice, corn, high-value crops, coconut, sugarcane, livestock, and fisheries," the DA said in a statement, adding that agricultural infrastructures, machinery and equipment were also reported to have been damaged,
All the reports received by the DA are still subject to validation.
The DA reports cover CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Mimaropa Mindoro Oriental and Occidental, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Central Mindanao, and Caraga.
To aid farmers and fisherfolk affected by typhoon "Odette", the department has allocated at least P2.9 billion of readily-available assistance: P1 billion worth of Quick Response Fund (QRF) to rehabilitate affected areas and P828 million from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) to indemnify affected farmers.