The Antique province in Western Visayas has now recorded P33.7 million worth of damage to rice and corn due to the ongoing strong El Niño forecasted to prevail until this February.

Patnongon Municipal Agriculture Office reported that they monitored last month the rice damages valued at P31 million from 424.3 hectares of farmlands and P2.7 million worth of injury from 118.25 hectares of corn plantations, which MAO officer Bernardita Salvador attributed to insufficient water in irrigation.

“There is no more source of water with the rivers and deep wells drying up. Crops had been damaged,” she said, adding that the Igpayo and Sibalom rivers, which provided water for their irrigation, no longer provide their farms with enough water.

Moreover, she said their office received information about the rice black bug or rice weevil pest infestation in Igbobon and Amparo farmlands, where approximately 2.5 hectares are suspected to be affected.

“The Office of the Provincial Agriculture with the Antique Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office personnel are now validating the report about RBB in the two barangays,” she said.

According to the Department of Agriculture in Ilocos region, RBB, locally known as item na atangya, ‘ is one of the most difficult pest to manage’ and is a 'sap-feeding insect that sucks the plant sap through the stems and nodes near the water surface.’

To secure their farmers' yield despite the potential adverse effects of drought, the Patnongon local government unit will distribute its farmers with rice and corn seeds maximizing its P800,00 allocation fund.