The Department of Agriculture (DA) has assured that all kinds of interventions have been put in place but stressed that there is a need to still discuss ways by which the impact of the estimated P1.94 billion damage caused by Super Typhoon "Egay" to the country's crops could really be mitigated.

In a briefing in Malacanang on Tuesday, Agriculture Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla said that of the P1.94 billion damage, P950 million were in the rice sector while P730 million were for destroyed cornfields.

Sombilla said, however, that the DA was "prepared."

Sombilla said rice production for up to the second quarter was "something like 39 days of stocks."

"The DA has already prepositioned ways by which we could really increase production. The biggest rice production will still come sometime... if not end of September, sometime in October. So,we will be beefing-up our supply and, of course, the usual supply that we will be also getting from imports," she added.

Sombilla said the interventions were put in place in coordination with the Egay-hit areas, especially in Regions 1 (Ilocos), 2 (Cagayan) and the Cordillera Administrative Region.

Sombilla admitted, however, that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. "is very much worried," saying, "We really have to discuss ways by which we could really mitigate, you know, further effect of these events that are now unfolding."

Sombilla also cited the withdrawal of Russia in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the ban imposed by India on exporting non-basmati white rice, and the El Niño phenomenon as threats to the stabilization of rice supply in the country.

"So the President really, you know, consulted and discussed with the DA various interventions that the Department of Agriculture is now going to be preparing for. Actually, many of them are already ongoing in response to whatever the effect of these three global events are," stated Sombilla.

"We are prepared. The production for up to the second quarter, we have something like 39 days of stocks. The DA has already prepositioned ways by which we could really increase production. The biggest rice production will still come sometime... if not at the end of September, sometime in October. So,we will be beefing-up our supply and, of course, the usual supply that we will be getting from imports," she added.

Sombilla likewise noted that the DA has already scheduled the importation of 1.3 metric tons (MT) tons of rice to add to the country's stockpile.

Source - https://www.manilatimes.net