The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday assured farmers and fishers affected by Tropical Depression Mirasol, Super Typhoon Nando (international name Ragasa) and the ongoing Severe Tropical Storm Opong (international name Bualoi) of more than PHP3 billion in government assistance.

DA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said in a phone interview that the agency has prepositioned interventions across the regions, including agricultural inputs, drugs, and biologics.

“If we sum it up, these are worth more than PHP3 billion already of items and goods that are available to respond, up to typhoon Opong,” de Mesa told the Philippine News Agency.

The assistance includes 142,219 bags of palay seeds, 91,485 bags of corn seeds, 40,518 kilograms of assorted vegetable seeds, and over 1.19 million tilapia, bangus, and catfish fingerlings.

The National Food Authority (NFA) has also placed 2.4 million bags of rice on standby for local government units and relief agencies.

Loan and indemnification programs are available to affected farmers, while the quick response fund for the recovery and rehabilitation of damaged agricultural lands will follow, de Mesa said.

As of Friday, agricultural damage from “Mirasol” and “Nando” reached PHP964.45 million, up from the initial PHP565.05 million, according to the DA-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Operations Center.

About 32,738 farmers and fishers were affected, with the production losses of 82,557 metric tons (MT) across 32,384 hectares of area in Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Western Visayas.

“The highest damage is in Cagayan Valley, specifically in the province of Cagayan, registering PHP653 million damage,” de Mesa said.

It was followed by Isabela at PHP134 million; Ilocos Norte at PHP60 million; Batangas, PHP22 million; and Pangasinan, almost PHP16 million, he added.

The rice sector incurred the biggest losses, valued at PHP687.92 million for 66,125 MT volume loss.

Production losses in corn followed, amounting to PHP190.32 million; high-value crops at PHP81.71 million, covering lowland and upland vegetables, spices, legumes, and fruits; livestock and poultry sector, PHP927,000 in damage covering 370 heads of chicken, swine, cattle, carabao goat, sheep, duck, horse, and turkey; and cassava, PHP21,000.

Damage to agricultural infrastructure remained at PHP3 million; irrigation systems at PHP500,000; and machinery and equipment at PHP15,000. (PNA)