Typhoon #EgayPH floods farms in northern Luzon
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00:00 Often when a special need arises and it's somehow given, a trade-off is necessary for one to be continually blessed.
00:07 Unfortunately for those in the agricultural sector, the recent need for more water supply was addressed
00:13 by continuous rains brought about by weather disturbances, sadly at the expense of crops and farmlands that became flooded.
00:21 Claizel Pardilia has more.
00:26 Jack Gaudius rice field is growing thick and deep green in Luna, Payao.
00:31 But when Typhoon Egei dumped heavy rains on his farm, his rice field turned into a huge pond, drowning his crops.
00:41 The rains lasted for two days. The water from the river was overflowing.
00:49 Our rice fields were still submerged.
00:54 The rice and corn were totally damaged.
01:05 The government is not helping us.
01:12 Torrential rains also flooded the famous strawberry farm in La Trinidad, Benguet.
01:20 The ecotourism site was filled with mud and rainwater.
01:26 Based on the initial assessment of the Department of Agriculture, damage to agriculture brought by the super typhoon Egei has reached P53.1 million pesos.
01:39 It ravaged hectares of rice and corn farms, livestock and poultry in the Cordillera, Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Caraga.
01:49 The reported damage to the Occidental Mindoro is about 2,000 hectares. That's about 20 million worth.
01:57 Most of it is partially damaged rice.
02:00 I'm talking about the Agusan del Sur, it's 18 million worth of rice.
02:04 We're expecting that it will increase in the next few hours and days because our ground personnel are coming and getting damage reports.
02:16 Despite the production loss, the DA assured sufficient supply of rice, veggies and meat.
02:24 There is no basis for any price increase.
02:27 The Samahang Industria ng Agrikultura appealed for the immediate distribution of farm assistance to those devastated by Egei.
02:37 This to perform immediate replanting and protection against the intense effect of El Niño.
02:44 SINAG pointed out local production should be prioritized amid a tightening rice supply in the world market after India imposed its rice exportation ban.
02:56 They will provide support if it's rice, fertilizer, pesticides or machineries.
03:07 In the next few years, rice will be depleted.
03:14 We are happy that our direction is local production because we have no hope in the global market, especially rice, which is very thin.
03:26 The Agriculture Department assured...
03:29 We can recover quickly because our calamity fund, quick response fund and seed reserve are on standby for those affected if they need to plant again.
03:45 The DA encouraged farmers and fisherfolk to head to regional field offices of the agency to report damage and losses and to provide them with help and proper assistance.
03:58 Khaleza Pardilia for the Nation.