The number of farmers and fisherfolk affected by Typhoon Egay in the Cordillera has reached 43,906, according to the Department of Agriculture.
DA-Cordillera Information Officer Aida Pagtan said the agency is readying the necessary interventions for the farmers depending on their needs.
In the Aug. 8 report of the DA Operations Center, the total agricultural damage in the region reached P1.12 billion and affected 22,392 hectares of farmlands.
The affected livestock and poultry reached 10,351 heads amounting to P21.8 million, while the damage to agriculture facilities was at P11.1M.
The typhoon caused a production loss of 1.9 metric tons of rice, corn, high va-lue crops, cutflowers, among other crops, or P1.09B.
Abra recently received assistance from the DA-Cordillera, which delivered rice, corn, and vegetable seeds in the province including fertilizer discount vouchers (FDVs) to its beneficiaries.
Since Aug. 3, 580 bags of certified rice seeds amounting to P580,000 has been brought to the province, which includes 200 pockets of 5-in-1 lowland and 100 pockets of assorted vegetable seeds amounting to P300,500.
DA-Cordillera also delivered 72 bags of open pollinated variety glutinous or white corn seeds amounting to P129,000 for 70 farmer beneficiaries, including 80 bags of hybrid yellow corn seeds amounting to P400,000 for 51 farmers.
Around 1,702 be-neficiaries received their fertilizer discount vouchers worth P3,805,906.
Other affected provinces will soon receive farming interventions based on the assessed damage report.
DA-Cordillera has an estimated 3,266 bags of seeds of hybrid yellow corn worth P15M to be distributed to the affected corn farmers in the region. – Ofelia C. Empian
