MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) said damage and losses to the agriculture sector caused by Tropical Storm Urduja (Kai-tak) had reached P1 billion as of 5 pm Friday, December 22.

A memorandum sent by the DA to reporters on Saturday, December 23, gave an update on Urduja affecting 38,466 farmers and a total of 38,973 hectares of agriculture areas in Bicol, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, and Caraga.

The total volume of production loss was estimated at 23,829 metric tons.

Christopher Morales, chief of the DA Field Programs Operational Planning Division, said the affected commodities are rice, corn, high value crops, livestock or poultry, and agri-fishery facilities.

Rice contributed the largest share of losses at P532.70 million (52.84%), covering 34,371 hectares – equivalent to 11.78% of the total standing crop of 291,746 hectares. The volume of production loss for rice was estimated at 6,402 metric tons.

“Most affected rice crops are at sowing, seedling, newly transplanted and vegetative stages, which majority were reported as totally damaged,” Morales said in the memorandum.

Below is a summary of damage and losses per commodity as of 5 pm Friday:

Morales also reported that the total damage to agri-fishery facilities amounted to P38.49 million. This included damage to research and experiment stations (P38.33 million) and fisheries facilities in DA-Eastern Visayas (P157,000).

Urduja weakened into a tropical depression before leaving the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Tuesday morning, December 19. It made landfall in the country 6 times.

As for Tropical Storm Vinta (Tembin), Morales on Friday said in a separate memorandum that “there are no damage brought about by [Vinta] to the agri-fisheries sector.” – Rappler.com