Philrice gives tips to manage damaged crops

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture said damages caused by Typhoon Lando to agriculture has reached more than P6 billion.

Aurora, Nueva Ecija and Isabela, three rice-producing provinces of the Philippines, were severely affected by the super typhoon.

To help farmers recover from the damages causes by Super Typhoon Lando, experts at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) recommended strategies on how to manage typhoon-damaged crops.

In harvesting crops submerged in water or mud, farmers can use the combine harvester provided that the field is already dry.

“If the crop submerged in water is easy to drain, combine harvester can be used provided that no or minimum moisture is present in the panicles to minimize grain losses during operation.  For submerged crop with drainage problem, manual harvesting is advisable to save the grains from deterioration,” said Arnold Juliano, PhilRice’s agricultural engineer.

Using mechanical dryer is also recommended as it allows drying during unfavorable weather conditions.

“Drying of harvested grains for seeds must have drying temperature not higher than 43°C,” Juliano said.