Typhoon crop losses in Cagayan Valley reach P1.5 billion

SANTIAGO CITY, Isabela, Philippines – Crop losses due to typhoon “Juan” in Cagayan Valley have reached P1.5 billion or some 20 percent of the total damage on agriculture in northern and central Luzon. 

Isabela, the country’s topmost rice and corn-producing province, incurred the biggest loss among the affected areas.

Agricultural losses from Juan in northern and central Luzon were estimated at P8.223 million, based on the latest damage assessment of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Dr. Danilo Tumamao, Isabela agriculture officer, said most of the damage was on the rice sector with losses of at least P1.2 billion or equivalent to 84,223 metric tons of harvestable palay.

The affected farms reportedly represent some 50 percent of the total land area planted to rice this cropping season.

Isabela’s corn sector lost P20,567.971 or equivalent to 1,962 metric tons of corn.

Isabela, whose farmers have yet to recover from the last dry spell which destroyed some P5 billion worth of crops, was the first to declare a state of calamity.

“Despite the devastation wreaked by the typhoon, we are confident that we will be able to withstand this crisis just like other calamities we faced in the past like the El Niño,” Gov. Faustino Dy Jr. said. 

Dy said they are now initiating measures to assist farmers like providing them with agriculture inputs to help them recover from their losses.