Some 54,536 farmers in Western Visayas were affected by super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ with an estimated damage of P1,562,897,038.34 to the region’s agriculture sector as of the latest report of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council 6 (RDRRMC 6).

According to the RDRRMC 6 report as of 5 PM, December 2, more than half of the affected farmers were from the province of Capiz numbering to 26,070 who are engaged in palay and corn productions.

The number of affected farmers in the other provinces of the region such as in Antique reached 13,772; Iloilo, 8,244; Negros Occidental, 4,730; Aklan, 1,646; and Guimaras, 74.Of the over P1.5 billion damages in agriculture brought by the super typhoon as of Monday, the palay sector incurred the biggest losses at P763,868,647.16.

Damages in the corn sector are now pegged at P68,366,276.87, cassava at P121,500.00, and other crops at P520,314,835.11.

Some P 137,425,779.20 were also lost in poultry and livestock and P72,800,000.00 in the abaca industry.

RDRRMC 6 said the province of Capiz suffered the most devastation in agricuture in the region with 671,950,668.86 worth of damages in its palay, corn, other crops, abaca and livestock and poultry sectors.Iloilo province lost about P481,848,581.24 worth of crops, abaca and livestock and poultry.

The typhoon also left damages to the agriculture sector of the following provinces: Negros Occidental worth around P244,221,674; Antique around P85,049,920.79, Aklan around P78,967,197.00, and Guimaras around P858,996.25.

The Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Information Division of the Department of Agriculture 6 reported that Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala recently assured farmers in the municipality of Libacao, Aklan of the government’s long-term solutions and relief assistance to the victims of typhoon Yolanda.

One of the interventions cited among others is the giving of insurance benefits to affected farmers by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.

Source - http://news.pia.gov.ph/