FARM DAMAGE caused by El Niño was P15.3 billion, according to the final estimate issued by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In its final farm damage bulletin, the DA said El Niño had affected 333,195 farmers and fisherfolk, resulting in crop losses amounting to 784,344 metric tons (MT).
The DA added that affected farmland spanned 270,855 hectares, with 68% or 184,182 hectares deemed recoverable.
Damage to the rice crop amounted to P5.93 billion, or 38.8% of the total. Lost volume was 330,717 MT, across 109,481 hectares of farmland.
The DA said that the most affected provinces were Palawan, Iloilo, Camarines Sur, and Occidental Mindoro.
Damage to corn totaled 327,310 MT, valued at P5.94 billion. This made up 38.84% of the overall damage caused by El Niño.
The DA said most of the damage and losses to corn and rice were to plants in the reproductive and mature stages.
It added that volume losses for high value crops amounted to 112,681 MT across 270,885 hectares of farmland. The losses were valued at P3.27 billion, or 21.35% of the total.
Damage to livestock and poultry was P37.97 million, affecting 25,547 animals including chicken, cattle, carabao, duck, goat, horse, sheep, and swine.
El Niño’s impact on fisheries totaled P53.44 million, with lost volume at 11,217 MT, affecting 2,679 fisherfolk.
In June the government weather service, known as PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration), announced the end of El Niño after conditions in the tropical Pacific returned to El Niño Southern Oscillation neutral levels, meaning neither El Niño nor La Niña was in effect. — Adrian H. Halili
