ANTIQUE – The damage brought by the El Niño phenomenon on crops in this province has now reached P141 million.
Nicolasito Calawag, chief of the Provincial Agriculture Office, said the damage on rice is the biggest at over P110 million, affecting 4,151 farmers in 2,340.94 hectares of land.
He added that 13 towns have reported damage on rice crops: Hamtic, Patnongon, Valderrama, Anini-y, Tobias Fornier, San Jose de Buenavista, Sibalom, San Remigio, Culasi, Laua-an, Bugasong, Tibiao, and Sebaste.
For corn, the total damage in the towns of Barbaza, Patnongon, Hamtic, Sibalom, Valderrama, San Remigio, San Jose de Buenavista, Tobias Fornier, Tibiao, and Sebaste reached P18.8 million.
Calawag said the extreme heat and lack of water had damaged the corn planted in 360.105 total hectares.
Moreover, high value crops such as radish, squash and pechay planted in Bugasong, Sibalom, and Tobias Fornier also suffered losses amounting to P9.6 million. A total of 140 farmers who own 253.78 hectares of land were affected.
As of this writing, Calawag said together with the Philippine Rice Research Institute, they have already inventoried the rice affected areas so seeds could be provided to the farmers for them to use during the wet season./PN
