SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The province of Antique has incurred an additional PHP13.6 million in crops damage because of the non-stop monsoon rains that hit the area from August 2 to August 4.
In an interview on Monday, Antique Provincial Agriculture Officer Nicolasito Calawag said the damage to rice crops were reported by Municipal Agriculture Officers (MAOs) in six towns that were affected by the heavy downpour.
“The crops damage was in different stages,”Calawag said, adding that the stages of crops that were damaged varied from the seedling, vegetative, reproductive and maturing from the 461.55 hectares planted by 616 farmers from the towns of Valderrama, Sibalom, Patnongon, San Jose de Buenavista, Belison and Hamtic.
Calawag said from July 17 to July 25, the MAOs monitored PHP16,056,558.44 damage in crops because of the enhanced southwest monsoon rains.
“The damages were from the 11 towns, affecting 1,668 farmers,” he said.
The towns that incurred damages then were Hamtic, Anini-y, Barbaza, San Remigio, Caluya, Belison, Laua-an, Sebaste, Bugasong, Sibalom and Tibiao which totalled to 1,036 hectares.
Calawag, however, assured the affected farmers that the Department of Agriculture has now 1,800 sacks of certified seeds as buffer stock on its warehouse in Padang, Patnongon town, which would be given as assistance to farmers in times of disaster. (Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA)
