BACOLOD City – A total of P8.3 million production losses were incurred by crop farmers and animal raisers in Negros Occidental following the onslaught of Tropical Storm Dante last week.
On Tuesday, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) reported almost P7.6 million worth of damages among 540 farmers in 51 barangays of nine localities.
Affected were 502.25 hectares of rice and high-value crops farms flooded due to torrential rains brought by the storm.
In rice production, 60 farmers in Hinoba-an town incurred the biggest amount of damage and losses at P2.32 million. In Moises Padilla, 51 farmers suffered a P1.7-million worth of damage.
The tropical storm also leaves a P1.16 million worth of damage to 256 farmers in the province’s top rice producer, Bago City.
In Cadiz City, 28 farmers suffered Dante’s devastation that reached P881,491.
Others that reported damage and losses were Binalbagan (P601,640), La Carlota City (P410,800), Isabela (P249,025), Pontevedra town (P257,535), and Victorias City (P113,775).
Some 14 high-value crop farmers with 1.35-hectare farms in two barangays of Cadiz City, reported P52,775 worth of damage and losses.
Meanwhile, the livestock and poultry sector got P583,468 worth of damages, a report from the Provincial Veterinary Office showed.
Hinoba-an incurred the biggest losses amounting to P352,956, affecting 135 heads of swine, free-range chicken, carabao, goat, cattle, and ducks, as well as P8,600 worth of damage to pig pens.
In Binalbagan, animal raisers reported P150,750 losses; La Carlota City and San Enrique, the combined amount of P63,620; and E.B. Magalona, P7,541.92.(PNA/PN)
