TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – The provincial council of Isabela has declared a state of calamity after the province’s corn production incurred damage amounting to almost P1 billion due to the dry spell.
Vice Gov. Antonio Albano, who heads the provincial council, said the dry spell affected 61,000 hectares of cornfields and might last until October based on the findings of the provincial agricultural office.
Albano said the province has P123 million in standby calamity funds to contain the damage.
Gov. Faustino Dy III said he would ask the National Food Authority (NFA) to buy the damaged corn crops to help the farmers recover from their losses.
Dy said in 2010, the NFA bought palay damaged by Typhoon Juan from the local farmers.
Earlier, the provincial board authorized Dy to make arrangements for the conduct of cloud-seeding to save the remaining crops.