MANILA – Tropical storms “Henry” and “Inday” wrought millions’ worth of damage to the agriculture and fisheries sectors, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
Accroding to the DA’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center, both sectors suffered an aggregate loss of P564.19 million.
The agriculture sector suffered P428.03 million worth of losses, with 26,667 hectares of rice paddies damaged in the provinces of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Batangas, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Batangas, Rizal, Laguna, Occidental Mindoro, Negros Occidental and Aklan.
This translated to an estimated 314 metric tons of production loss. A total of 1,3338 bags of rice were also washed out as seedbeds were likewise affected.
The fisheries sector posted a total of P136.16 million in losses with 60 hectares of affected areas in Asingan and Binalonan in Pangasinan equivalent to 61 metric tons of lost production.
Agriculture secretary Manny Piñol said that the supply of agricultural products in affected areas will help ease any price pressure.
“It’s not always price control. It’s availability of supply in the market because the reason why tumataas ‘yun supply sa merkado ngayon kasi kaunti ‘yun supply dahil sa bagyo, so we have to address supply,” he said.
Piñol said seedlings will be distributed to affected farmers. The department will also consider importation if necessary.
“Kung kailangan magdala ng isda from Mindanao to Manila or import fish, I don’t really mind,” he said.
“Henry” developed as a tropical depression out of a low-pressure area on the evening of July 15 and exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on the morning of July 17.
“Inday” turned into a tropical depression on July 18 and quickly intensified into a tropical storm before exiting PAR on July 21.
Both storms intensified the Southwest Monsoon and largely affected Luzon and Visayas.
Both storms were followed by Tropical Depression Josie, which left PAR on Monday morning. (GMA News)
