| PHOTO: Official Facebook page of Sipalay City Agriculture Office
The death toll due to the combined effects of Tropical Cyclones Ferdie, Gener and Helen and the southwest moonsoon has risen to 24, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Friday.
In its latest bulletin, the NDRRMC said nine were reported killed in Mimaropa; five in Western Visayas; four each in Zamboanga Peninsula and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM); and two in Central Visayas.
The disaster agency added 12 people are still missing in Mimaropa and two in Zamboanga Peninsula while 13 individuals were injured in various parts of the country.
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It added a state of calamity has been declared in San Enrique, Negros Occidental and Pandan in Antique.
The NDRRMC said 1,303,677 people, or 356,578 families, have been affected by the weather disturbances.
Losses
In the aftermath of southwest monsoon and Ferdie, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported P600.83 million in losses.
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In its bulletin posted on Friday afternoon, the DA said the natural calamities affected the livelihood of 11,170 farmers.
The southwest monsoon and Ferdie wiped out 27,427 metric tons of agricultural produce on 11,696 hectares of land.
Among the commodities, rice contributed most to overall losses with 93.66 percent or P562.75 million, the majority of which were in the reproductive and maturing stages.
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Corn followed with 3.17 percent or P19.04 million. The remaining 3.17 percent is attributed to high-value crops (P18.22 million) such as lowland vegetables, root crops and banana as well as livestock (P819,200) including chicken, swine, cattle, carabao and goat.
The DA said the figures are subject to validation and it has yet to record losses because of Gener and Helen.
Gov’t assistance
In a television interview on Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon on Friday, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said affected farmers can tap the Quick Response Fund while the DA has prepositioned the distribution of rice, corn and vegetable seeds.
The agency said it is undertaking “best possible efforts” to provide assistance and interventions to the affected farmers.
Apart from seeds, affected farmers can secure funding from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council’s Survival and Recovery Loan Program. The maximum loanable amount is P25,000 payable in three years at zero interest.
Likewise, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. has available funds to indemnify affected farmers.
Before these storms hit parts of the country, the farm sector incurred P2.26 billion in losses due to Tropical Storm “Enteng.”
In contrast, the combined effects of the monsoon and Supertyphoon “Carina” hit P4.73 billion worth of agricultural goods.