El Niño damage to agriculture climbs to P151.3 million

The Philippine agriculture sector has sustained P151.3 million worth of damage and losses on the back of the ongoing El Niño, even as the country has yet to experience the peak of the dry spell.

The latest estimate released by the Department of Agriculture (DA) compares with the P109.4 million of losses at the end of January, covering 6,618 metric tons of palay (unmilled rice) and corn in some 3,291 hectares.

The estimates said there were some 3,923 farmers in Western Visayas and the Zamboanga Peninsula affected. Further details were not immediately available.

“Most of the damage and losses were incurred on rice and corn that are on their reproductive stage,” the bulletin was cited as saying in a DA statement released Wednesday.

The state weather bureau PAGASA officially announced the start of El Niño in July 2023, with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) expecting this to last until at least April 2024, and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) projecting a 1.5-million metric ton (MT) loss in palay or unmilled rice.

In response, the DA said it has spent P1 million for efforts to provide assistance to farmers including the distribution of vegetable seeds in Western Visayas, and procuring planting materials for high-value crops that need less water for the Zamboanga Peninsula.

The DA last December said it started implementing measures such as cloud-seeding operations to mitigate the impact of the dry spell on food production.

Government data showed that the value of production in agriculture and fisheries grew by 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023, bringing the full-year production up 0.7%. —NB, GMA Integrated News