Lando destroys vegetable crops

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – Ilocanos may be forced to go on a diet from their favorite pinakbet as vegetables for this popular Ilocandia dish were destroyed by Typhoon Lando.

Department of Agriculture regional director Valentine Perdido said it would take about two months before the vegetable ingredients become abundant again.

Perdido, however, gave assurance that vegetable areas have  patches of fruit trees that serve as natural and some were not totally damaged by the typhoon.

Unlike Pangasinan, the province of Ilocos Sur was not heavily devastated and it will supply the scarcity of vegetables in this province, he said.

Perdido said Region 1 sustained P278 million in damage to various crops.

He said the damage could reach up to P500 million as reports from other affected areas continue to arrive.

Perdido said many ready-to-harvest palay became soaked in floodwaters while thousands of mango trees and high-value crops were destroyed.

Next to Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte posted initial agriculture damage worth P65 million, especially for palay in reproductive stage.

La Union came in third followed by Ilocos Sur where some areas were also flooded.

Avenix Arenas, spokesman for the provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council of Pangasinan, said partial damage in the province as of Oct. 22 reached more than P243 million for infrastructure and another P250 million in agriculture, including fisheries.

She added damage to houses was initially placed at P60 million.

The widespread damage left by Lando prompted the provincial board to declare Pangasinan under a state of calamity.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Lando left P6.57 billion worth of damage to crops and infrastructure.

The Department of Agriculture estimated Lando’s damage on the agriculture sector has reached P5.9 billion. This covers about 277,060 hectares of rich agricultural lands in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Cordillera regions.

Initial field validation showed the regions have incurred a production loss of 386,000 metric tons. Of the total, palay accounts for the largest production loss at about 360,000 MT amounting to P5.3 billion.

Corn and high value crops recorded production losses at 5,600 MT and 21,800 MT, respectively. These figures amount to P84.5-million losses for corn and P528.9-million losses for high value crops. On the other hand, damage to livestock is estimated at P517,000.

Sen. Cynthia Villar underscored the need to improve government’s program to provide insurance protection to farmers following the damage to agriculture brought by Lando.

Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, noted only 694,727 subsistence farmers and fisherfolk will be covered by crop insurance services under the proposed 2016 budget of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC).

“Although more farmers will be covered this year because of the increase in PCIC’s budget, the fact remains that more farmers will be exposed to the risk of losing their crops and farm animals due to natural disasters,” Villar said.

“With an average of 20 typhoons entering the country in a year, our farmers and fisherfolk are always the big losers. This is one of the reasons why poverty incidence is highest in this sector, where two-thirds of our population belong,” she added. – Christina Mendez