The country’s coconut industry sustained massive losses estimated as P1.6 billion caused by Typhoon Odette, the Department of Agriculture said during the weekend.
The DA reported that the Philippine Coconut Authority had mobilized manpower and resources to assist in the clearing and rehabilitation of damaged areas and uplift the conditions of coconut farmers severely affected by the typhoon.
Total damage to the agriculture sector due to Odette has reached P9 billion, including agriculture infrastructures.
PCA administrator Benjamin Madrigal, Jr., said the agency’s regional offices immediately reached out to the coconut farmers in the disaster-hit areas to help rehabilitate severely affected areas.
“To date, with the transport assistance provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the PCA has deployed one 140 chainsaws in affected areas to facilitate the clearing and disposal of damaged coconut trees, 50 of these were sent to Surigao, 30 to Dinagat Island, another 50 to Southern Leyte, and 10 to other parts of Leyte. An additional 50 units of reconditioned chainsaws will be deployed to Southern Leyte,” he said.
The local AFP units in Eastern Visayas and Caraga region coordinated their efforts and helped transport the chainsaws from Tacloban and distributing same in Surigao while PCA ensures that onlye felled and totally-damaged trees are cut, he added.
Partnership with local government units has made the task easier, enabling swifter delivery of assistance and relief packages to affected coconut farmers, Madrigal said.
The PCA has been working with the governors, municipal mayors, and other local executives to ensure that the support and assistance will be given asap.
PCA also coordinated and partnered with other national government agencies such as the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD), the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the military to allow coordinated and speedy rehabilitation efforts.
The DSWD committed to provide temporary employment to the chainsaw operators, haulers, and helpers through their cash-for-work program while coconut lumbers will be turned over to the DHSUD to be used for the construction of temporary housing facilities; and the AFP
will assist PCA in transporting the chainsaws, equipment, and other supplies to the different affected areas.
PCA also released P2.95 million farmers in Surigao; P1 million for the farmers in Dinagat Island; and P1 million for the affected farmers of Southern Leyte.
The funds are intended to provide short gestation crops and small ruminants to provide food for the families of our farmers and for the consuming public, support the incentivized and participatory planting and replanting project, as well as fertilizers to rehabilitate damaged coconut trees.
An additional P480,000 was also reprogrammed by PCA for the repair of chainsaws and the deployment of generator sets.
The PCA has also prepared the distribution of 152,014 seednuts and seedlings for the eventual replacement of the felled and damaged trees in the said severely affected areas.
For 2022, the PCA said it is working double time to fast track the implementation of the different programs under its 2022 GAA allocation like the coconut fertilization project to revive the partially damaged coconut trees; the sustainable planting/replanting of local cultivars to replace the more than 10 million totally damaged trees; and the intercropping of short gestation crops to fully support the rehabilitation and recovery of our coconut farmers.
It is also waiting for the approval of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP) by the President, to finance the modernization of the coconut industry and usher in comprehensive and sustained development and competitiveness of coconut farmers.