El Niño damage now at P357.4M

The El Niño phenomenon’s damage to the farm sector more than doubled to P357.4 million from P151.3 million reported previously, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said in its latest bulletin.

The dry spell has affected 7,668 farmers in the regions of Ilocos, Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Western Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula as of Friday afternoon.

The volume of production losses was pegged at 11,480 metric tons (MT) for palay, 2,897 MT for corn and 225 MT for high-value crops spanning 6,523 hectares of land.

READ: In Antique, dry spell destroys rice, corn worth P33.7M

The DA said 5,011 hectares of area dedicated to rice represents 0.52 percent of the total target area planted while 11,480 MT of affected palay is about 0.12 percent of the target dry cropping season output for 2024.

In the case of corn, the area affected by El Niño stood at 1,263 hectares or 0.11 percent of the total target area planted. The estimated production loss of 2,897 MT is a fraction or 0.06 percent of target production for this year’s dry cropping season. —JORDEENE B. LAGARE