By Cielito M. Reganit
MANILA, Oct. 26 (PNA) — The Department of Agriculture reported Monday that to date, the estimated cost of damages and losses to agriculture and fisheries due to Typhoon Lando have reached Php 8.451 billion in Regions I, II, III, IV-A and the Cordillera Administrative Region or CAR.
According to the DA, a total of 369,199 hectares (has.) of production areas were affected,resulting in 511,691 metric tons (MT) of production losses.
Most of the damages were in the rice sector with a total of 344,102 has. of rice lands affected, with production losses reaching 471,198 MT having an estimated value of Php 7.213 billion.
Meanwhile, damages to high value crops were placed at Php 780,273,408; fisheries at Php 276,818,517; and corn losses at Php 146,498,170.
Region III incurred most of the damages in rice, with 225,946 has. of rice lands affected and with production losses reaching 393,440 MT having an estimated value of Php 5.991 billion.
In the meantime, the DA said that field validations in Regions I and III will be conducted from October 26-30 and November 3-7 in Region II.
The validation team will be composed of representatives from DA field offices, regional field offices (RFOs) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).
The DA said the result of the validation will be considered as the final report of the RFOs affected by Typhoon Lando. (PNA)