Agriculture loss to floods in Philippines tops 5 bln pesos

Rains brought by tropical depression Parma which hovered above the northern Philippines for over a week had destroyed crops and farm products amounting to 5 billion pesos (about 108 million U.S. dollars), the government reported Monday.

The Philippine agriculture department said an estimated 246,152metric tons of palay (paddy rice), valued at 4.2 billion pesos (about 90 million U.S. dollars), was lost as massive rainfall submerged rice fields.

Floods and heavy rains inundated 180,121 hectares of rice-growing areas. These areas are in the provinces of Isabela, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Ilocos region, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Albay, Camarines Sur and the Cordillera provinces.

The department also reported that Parma destroyed over 40,000 tons of corn, fruits and vegetables and damaged irrigation facilities worth over 300,000 pesos (about 6,000 U.S. dollars).

Officials said that they're assessing typhoon Parma's damage so that it can provide enough seeds and farm inputs to help rehabilitate the farms.

According to the latest government tally, 199 people were killed in floods and landslides triggered by Parma in the past week. Officials said the death toll would continue to rise as rescuers reached the worst-hit areas and completed the assessment of the losses.

Source:Xinhua