About 150 small-scale farmers in the mid-western Cebu town of Asturias issued notices of loss in their corn farms because of the ongoing dry spell.

In their notices of loss forwarded to the municipal government, the farmers reported losses or damages to their crops by as much as 50 to 100 percent for the period of January to April this year.

The farmers claimed that the corns which were supposed to be harvested within the period have not produced the desired yield.

The drought has so far affected a total of 154 hectares of corn plantation in 16 of 27 Asturias barangays.

Asturias is home to about 1,067 hectares of land conducive for corn farming which takes about four months to harvest.

The impact of the losses may not be as severe considering that it is the dry season, but municipal agriculturist Jade Mesias said the drought still has affected the farmers’ livelihood.

Mesias added that Asturias town mayor Alan Adlawan will be affixing his signature on the notices so that the farmers may use the documents to get their claims from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.

Source - http://cnnphilippines.com/