CEBU CITY, Philippines — A mango farm in Barangay Mabini here suffered P3.75 million worth of damage due to the torrential rains in the past three days.
Engineer Joel Baclayon, the head of the City Agriculture Department (CAD), confirmed this to CDN Digital in a phone interview after the farmer reported the damages on September 17, 2020.
Baclayon said 205 mango trees were affected by the heavy downpour since September 15, 2020, causing damage to trees and the fruits.
Read: Public warned of possible landslides as rains persist
The CAD will be investigating the site to check as to how far is the extent of the damage and to see how they can help the farmer.
Baclayon said farmers should expect damage to crops during the rainy season, especially if typhoons would pass over Cebu.
For this reason, he urged them to apply for the government’s insurance for crops so that their produce will be insured all-year round.
The enrollment to the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) is free and will be facilitated by the CAD with the help of the barangays.
“We don’t know when a typhoon or monsoon would come to destroy our crops, it is a huge help for our farmers if their crops are ensured. They are guaranteed that they can buy seedlings and regrow again should the crops be destroyed,” he said.
The CAD is now monitoring all farmlands in Cebu City’s 28 mountain barangays for unreported damages during the rains.
Minor landslides have hit certain barangays, but other than the mango farm, no other reports of crops destroyed reached them.
Baclayon urged the farmers to report any incidents so the city government can help them. /bmjo