INUNDATED. A flooded community in San Roque, Northern Samar in this Nov. 21, 2023 photo. The Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office here is preparing all available rice seeds to replace those planted crops washed out by recent massive floods in Northern Samar. (Photo courtesy of Board Member Don Abalon)
TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office here is preparing all available rice seeds to replace those planted crops washed out by the recent massive floods in Northern Samar.
Aside from doing an inventory of current available seeds in the region, the DA regional office has already asked for replacement stocks from the Philippine Rice Research Institute and other DA regional offices if farmers would need more, DA Eastern Visayas regional executive director Andrew Orais said.
“We are ready with our support, but we are just waiting for a go signal from the provincial agriculture office since the post-disaster damage assessment is going on,” Orais told the Philippine News Agency on Monday.
As of the end of November, the DA regional office has 2,000 bags of rice seeds, 920 bags of registered rice seeds, and 437 bags of hybrid rice seeds. The field office also has inventories of corn seeds, assorted vegetable seeds, cassava cuttings, and native chicken.
The DA reported last week that damage and losses to agriculture due to the massive floods in Samar provinces on November 21 and 22 have reached PHP104.96 million.
The weather disturbances have affected 4,571 farmers tilling 2,751 hectares of land in three Samar provinces.
Rice posted the biggest losses at PHP84.50 million, followed by high-value crops at PHP9.21 million, bananas at PHP3.91 million, livestock at PHP2.48 million, and corn at PHP1.29 million. (PNA)
