The farms damaged by Typhoon “Ambo” will soon receive part of the P700 million Quick Response Fund after the Agriculture department validated the reports of the damage it inflicted on the farms in Eastern Visayas and Luzon.
The damage to farms have hit P1.14 billion, including the P793-million lost to bananas, vegetables, and other high-value crops.
The loss to rice and corn crops have initially been estimated at P301.7 million, while the loss to the fisheries and livestock sub-sectors have been assessed at P25.5 million and P23.4 million, respectively.
"We were fortunate that the losses were not that heavy as we issued early warnings and recommendations to our regional field offices several days before the storm hit eastern Visayas,” Agriculture secretary William Dar said.
He ordered the prepositioning of rice, corn, and vegetable seeds in regions 1, 3, 4-A, 5, 6, 7, 8, and the Cordilleras.
Those included 109,586 bags of rice seeds, 10,116 bags of corn seeds, and 1,195 kilograms of vegetable seeds. Animal drugs and other biologics for livestock and poultry were also distributed.
The Agriculture department, through the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, is also set to grant an initial indemnity of P90.5 million to about 11,500 farmers and fishermen who availed themselves of insurance coverage.
"The number of beneficiaries might still go up as we conduct further adjustment and validation of more affected areas,” said PCIC president Jovy Bernabe.
“We have given strict instructions to our personnel to conduct the adjustment activities and process the indemnity payments soonest.”