Butil Farmers Representative Agapito Guanlao has called on the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to exempt farmers in Central Luzon who were victims of Typhoon "Lando" from paying irrigation fees until they recover their losses. Guanlao recently filed House Resolution 2488 calling on NIA to defray irrigation fees for the meantime. Latest government report said that Typhoo Lando caused damages to infrastructure and agriculture amounting to P11, 000, 003, 194 and leaving 47 people dead, 82 injured and 4 still missing. Damage to agriculture alone reached P9, 629, 784 as of November 1 according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Guanlao laments that the P737 million initially devoted to crop insurance merely represents only 12 percent of the total agricultural damage caused by Typhoon Lando. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture (DA) estimated that Central Luzon has already incurred a production loss of 389, 000 metric tons. Central Luzon has the worst production loss for palay with Nueva Ecija incurring the biggest damage followed by Tarlac, Bulacan, Aurora, Bataan and Pampanga. Guanlao said that Typhoon Lando had damaged crops of small landholdings of about 110, 0000 small farmers affecting their livelihood. “Exempting them from payment of irrigation fees would be a relief, until they fully recover from the devastation,” Guanlao said. Guanlao also called on the DA regional office here to expedite assistance efforts to affected framings adding that the production targets of the current dry cropping season would be affected if measures are not fully implemented. The legislator said that until now most of the farmers affected by the recent calamity have yet to fully recover. He added that immediate support from the DA is necessary for full recovery so that farmers could immediately start tilling their lands. Guanlao added that the prevailing El Niño phenomenon will greatly have an effect on how fast the farmers can rebound from the tragedy as farmers try to recover their losses. Source - http://www.sunstar.com.ph