The Philippines’ disaster relief agency said damage wrought by the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year has reached a total of P3.19 billion $67M USD). Of the figure, P1.91 billion accounted for farm losses, which an agriculture official said is “minimal.”
Damage to high-value cash crops (such as banana, mango, papaya and vegetables), almost entirely borne by Bicol, cost P226.4 million. ($5M USD)
In a briefing on Thursday morning, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Manuel “Mar” A. Roxas II said that the situation in Eastern Samar, where the storm first hit land on Saturday evening, had “stabilized.”
The damage report covers the province of Quezon, Marinduque, Romblon, as well as the regions of Bicol and Eastern and Western Visayas.
The damage covers 55,872 hectares of farmland that are mostly at the vegetative and reproductive stages of growth.
These losses are still considered “minimal compared to other typhoons,” Agriculture Undersecretary Emerson U. Palad said via text yesterday.
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/
