SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The province of Antique incurred P5.5 million in rice crop losses due to Typhoon “Egay”-enhanced southwest monsoon rains.
Serafin Yanga, Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPA) focal person for natural calamity, said on Friday that flooding damaged 183 hectares of rice fields owned by 239 farmers in the towns of Hamtic, Laua-an, Valderrama and Barbaza.
“The damage could not really affect our rice sufficiency considering that those in the vegetative and maturity stages still have a big chance of recovery,” Yanga said.
Of the 183 hectares, Yanga said 39.15 hectares are vegetative and 42.9 hectares are already in their maturity stage.
He also said the OPA has a buffer stock of 1,200 bags of rice seeds for distribution to farmers needing assistance.
A farmer can receive a 20-kilogram bag of rice seeds for replanting for every damaged hectare, aside from the indemnity they could get from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.
Michael Tolentino, Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Officer III of the Antique Provincial DRRM Office, said as of Friday that only 20 families whose houses were destroyed by the storm surge and landslide were still staying with relatives. The rest of the 185 evacuated families have returned to their respective homes.
“The totally damaged houses are in San Jose de Buenavista with two and in San Remigio with 18,” Tolentino said.
The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council report also showed that the Egaña Bailey Bridge in the municipality of Sibalom is only accessible to vehicles 10 tons and below after it wobbled due to the heavy rains on July 24. (PNA)/PN
