The city government has reported that rice crop production losses in Puerto Princesa due to the dry spell have already reached an estimated P5.7 million.
Assistant city agriculturist officer Enera Tuibeo said the losses were incurred from January to April this year.
She made the report on Friday during the 2nd Quarter Meeting of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC).
“Based po sa validation na conducted ng mga agricultural extension officers ng City Agricultural Office (CAO), on the effect ng dry spell and drought dahil sa El Niño ay ito ang mga observation and data na na-gather nila, and out of 31 barangays na in-assess, 10 pong barangay ang actually nagkaroon ng damage sa crops,” said Tuibeo.
Tuibeo said the 10 barangays cover 108.95 hectares of rice farms with 97 farmers who were the most affected.
According to their records, these heavily affected barangays are Inagawan, Kamuning, Inagawan-Sub, Cabayugan, Buenavista, Tagabinet, Babuyan, Langogan, Maoyon, and Bacungan.
Six of these barangays reported 100 percent losses, namely Inagawan, with 13 affected farmers, 24 hectares of rice farms, and P1,432,080 equivalent losses; Kamuning, with 21 affected farmers, 33 hectares of farmlands, and P2,187,900 losses; Inagawan Sub-Colony with six affected farmers, 7.2 hectares of farmlands, and P358,020 financial losses; Cabayugan, with five affected farmers, five hectares of farmlands, and P331,500 reported financial losses; Buenavista, with 12 farmers, 9.7 hectares of farmlands, and P451,005 losses, and Babuyan, with its 10 affected farmers, two hectare-rice farm, and P375,600 estimated losses.
“Ito po ay base sa production losses nila dahil ‘yong karamihan pong stage ng crops na na-damage ay nasa reproductive to maturity stage na. Almost ‘yong affected na areas ay ‘yong nag-tanim noong January to February planting,” said Tuibeo.
