THE damage brought by the prevailing effects of El Niño phenomenon to the livestock and poultry industry of Negros Occidental is totalled to P4.6 million.
Final damage report of Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) showed that the poultry sector, particularly broiler, incurred the biggest amount of losses worth P1.489 million or 32 percent.
Other poultry animals like layers suffered P478,564 in damage, free-range chicken worth P474,323, and game fowl worth P450,500. Each commodity comprises 10 percent of the total losses.
The swine sector incurred P1.183 million or 26 percent while the remaining eight percent or P369,278 accounts for losses in cattle.
Alpha Grace Tupas, project development officer I of PVO, said the cumulative report covers 26 affected-local government units in the province.
No additional damage is projected as rains are already experienced in some parts of Negros Occidental, she added.
The PVO earlier said swine for livestock and broiler for poultry are most vulnerable to extreme heat.
Since swine has no sweat glands, the animal has difficulty in regulating its body temperature so they need to be bathed frequently.
Broiler and layers, meanwhile, is fast-growing, thus their metabolism is also fast. But, they have weak coping mechanism when it comes to heat regulation.
But aside from swine and chicken, some ruminants are also affected by the dry spell associated to El Niño.
The amount damage in livestock and poultry forms part of about P480 million worth of production losses incurred by the province’s agro-fishery sector due to El Niño.
In terms of damage to crops, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) earlier reported that dry spell damage to sugarcane sector of Negros Occidental is already pegged at about P366 million.
The figure covers affected area of 42,424.86 hectares.
The estimated yield loss is 114,773 tons, equivalent to 223,807.91 50-kilogram bags of sugar and 3,787.51 metric tons of molasses.
In terms of value, the SRA reported a damage worth P324.5 million in sugar and almost P41.7 million in molasses.
This is on top of P109 million production losses caused by the dry spell and pest infestation in the province's rice, corn, high value commercial crops and fishery sectors as reported by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.
The bulk of the amount, or P85 million, was noted in rice sector.