By Civ Alonzo-Cruz
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said in the Talk to the People public briefing on Monday night (Dec. 27) that the food supply in the country is adequate amid the devastation of Typhoon Odette in the agriculture sector of Visayas and Mindanao.
In the public briefing, DA Sec. William Dar assured the public that food supply in the country is sufficient and needs to be transported to areas affected by the typhoon.
“We would like to assure the public na mayroon po tayong sapat na pagkain [sa bansa]. We just need to mobilize them from every area where it is needed the most,” he said.
During his presentation to the briefing, Sec. Dar showed that the agriculture department was still able to harvest at least 38,534 metric tons of crops before Typhoon Odette hit the country.
However, the agriculture sector still lost about P6-B worth of damages. Affected commodities include rice, corn, high value crops, coconut, livestock, and fisheries. Agricultural infrastructure, machineries, and equipment have also been damaged.
The calamity affected 68,991 farmers and fisherfolk.
With this, the DA said that at least P3-B crop insurance and assistance to the affected farmers and fisherfolk is readily available from their budget and will be given in the next five weeks. They will also provide seeds from the agriculture reserves to regions affected by the calamity.
“We still have at least P3-B funds that will be distributed in the next five weeks for the rice farmers’ assistance,” Dar said.
“We are in partnership with the LGUs to see that the farmers and fisherfolks are properly attended to,” he added. -rir
