RDC-7: 42,000 metric tons of crops lost to Super Typhoon Odette

Members of RDC-7 convened on Thursday, June 23, for their 2022 second quarter meeting. | CDND photo / Wenilyn Sabalo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — At least 42,454 metric tons of crops were lost when Super Typhoon Odette hit Cebu and other parts of the Visayas and Mindanao on December 16, 2021.

This was according to the first quarter 2022 Regional Economic Situationer (RES) presented by Maria Teresa Alambra, secretary of the Development Administration Committee (DAC) of the Regional Development Council in Central Visayas (RDC-7) during their second quarter full council meeting held last June 23.

Odette especially affected the corn and palay production in the region.  The DAC’s RES showed a drop of 31.9 percent in corn production and 28.1 percent decline in the palay production during the first quarter of 2022.

Even the fisheries sector was not spared, Alambra said, with a 42 percent drop in total production due to lower output from municipal fishery and aquaculture.

Small fishermen and aquaculture farm operators, she said, reported heavy damages to their fishing boats, equipment, and structures, thus, limiting their ability to fish or sustain production.

“The livestock and poultry, on the other hand, suffered the least after the typhoon. Except for goats, all sub sectors of livestock and poultry saw production increase from year ago levels,” she said.

Alambra said it’s a good thing that Central Visayas has remained free of the African Swine Fever and Avian influenza because this helped sustain the local production of livestock and poultry here.

The region’s poultry production logged 15.9 percent increase while egg production increased by 39.6 percent during the first quarter of 2022.

Inflation

Meanwhile, Alambra reported that inflation rose to five percent in January 2022 from only 2.2 percent in December 2021 as Super Typhoon Odette disrupted economic activities and services with the extensive damage that it caused on properties and assets in the region.

Since the typhoon hit, inflation has remained elevated “hovering between 5 to 5.4 percent in the first five months of 2022 and going up weekly due to the high cost of fuel.”

Inflation is a term used to describe the general rise in the price of goods and services. It also meant a loss of purchasing power.

She said the top drivers of inflation here during the first quarter of 2022 are operation of personal transport equipment, food, electricity, gas, and other fuels.

As for May 2022, the top contributor of higher inflation are operation of personal transport equipment, inpatient care services, and food.

“In the case of food, the graph on the left side shows that food inflation surged to 11.1 percent in January 2022 from only about 3.1 percent in December 2021 as Typhoon Odette damaged crops and agricultural assets that affected production and supply of many food items,” she said.

“It eased to 8.6 percent in February and further to 6.7 to 6.8 percent in March to May, although still elevated, as supplies slowly picked up,” she added.

Alambra said faster price movement were recorded for corn, vegetables, fish, meat, and fruit during the first quarter of 2022. Prices for all food items rose except for frozen and ready-made food. Meanwhile, fish, sugar, corn, and oils and fats were the top drivers of food inflation in May 2022.

The price of rice, as well, experienced a slight increase. The price of rice accelerated by 1.6 percent during the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the last quarter of 2021. In May 2022, it accelerated again by 0.8 percent from its previous price in April.

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