DROUGHT brought by the El Niño phenomenon has caused 77,005 metric tons of agricultural products to go to waste.
This is equivalent to P10,997 billion worth of agricultural damages in 772,538 hectares of land, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported.
Most affected by the drought was Cagayan Valley with P6.8 million worth of damages in rice, corn, vegetables, and fisheries.
Second most affected was Western Visayas, which incurred losses of up to P1.3 billion.
Damages in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog both reached more than P600 million.
To mitigate the effects of the dry spell, the NDCC said that 69 cloud seeding operations, which lasted for an accumulated 66 flying hours and 21 minutes, were carried out in Cagayan Valley.
In Western Visayas, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation issued claim payments to 338 rice and corn farmers amounting to P1.7 million.
The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council in Central Luzon conducted to field visits in the area while the Department of Agriculture improved irrigation systems all over Southern Tagalog as a mitigation measure to the drought, according to the NDCC report.
While Central Visayas only incurred P 1.3 million in losses, an estimate of 124,515 farmers and families were affected by the drought.
All in all, 247,719 farmers and families all over the country has been affected by El Niño phenomenon. (Angela Casauay/Sunnex)