AGRICULTURAL damage caused by Tropical Storm Paeng, with international name Nalgae, has been initially estimated at P49.54 million, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The storm, the 16th to hit the country this year, has affected 762 farmers and 1,949 hectares of agricultural areas, based on the bulletin issued by the DA’s disaster risk reduction and management office on Sunday morning.
A total of 2,543 metric tons (MT) of production loss had so far been reported.
“Based on assessments made by the DA regional field offices, damage and losses have been reported in Mimaropa, Bicol and Western Visayas Region…Affected commodities include rice, high value crops and fisheries. These values are subject to validation,” the DA bulletin said.
Damage to rice amounted to P47.25 million with 2,479 MT of production affected.
Losses to high-value crops totaled P1.24 million. Production volume loss reached 64 MT while 62 hectares of agricultural land were affected.
Damage to fisheries reached P1.05 million.
“The DA continuously coordinates with concerned national government agencies, local government units and other DRRM-related offices for the impact of the tropical cyclones, as well as available resources for interventions and assistance,” the bulletin said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
