The Department of Agriculture reported Sunday that the Philippine agriculture sector has now suffered damage and losses amounting to more than P357 million.

Based on the agency’s latest assessment, the total value loss is estimated to amount to P357.38 million, affecting 7,668 farmers, with an output volume loss of 14,601 metric tons on 6,523 hit hectares of farmlands, of which 2,963 hectares, or 91.52%, have a chance of recovery and 328 hectares, or 8.48%, are unrecoverable.

Rice outputs were the most affected, suffering damage worth P284.27 million from the volume loss of 11,480 MT, affecting a total area of 5,011 hectares, of which 4,039 hectares, or 80.60%, have a chance of recovery.

The province of Iloilo incurred the biggest loss valued between P100 million and P200 million, followed by Oriental Mindoro, which suffered a loss valued between P50 and P100 million.

Meanwhile, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Palawan, Negros Occidental, and Zamboanga del Norte suffered losses of less than P50 million.

For corn, 1,263 hectares of farmlands were said to be El Nino-affected areas, where 1,125 hectares, or 89.07%, have a chance of recovery.

The corn volume loss is 2,897 MT, amounting to P60.70 million.

Occidental Mindoro registered the highest value loss of corn, ranging from P20 million to P30 million, followed by Ilocos Norte and Antique with a P10 million to P20 million value loss.

Pangisanan and Oriental Mindoro, on the other hand, registered less than P10 million in value losses.

Lastly, 249 hectares planted with high-value crops are affected, with a 225 MT volume loss, totaling P12.41 million worth of damage.

The Province of Palawan was the most affected area, with a P5 to P6 million value loss, followed by Ilocos Norte and Occidental Mindoro with less than P4 million.

Most of the damage and losses to all the crops are in the reproductive stage.

With this, the DA has taken interventions such as the provision of various vegetable seeds and hybrid rice and fertilizer seeds to non-vulnerable areas in Western Visayas for maximization of production to compensate for the losses.

Moreover, actions taken by the government include regular monitoring of weather conditions and actual ground situation, continuous dissemination of advisories and agro-meteorological information, field validation of areas vulnerable to drought and dry spells, positioning of interventions for farmers to be affected, data analysis on planting and harvesting (rice and corn), sources of irrigation systems (dams, SWIP, SSIPs), as well as the status of irrigation facilities (operational and non-operational), adoption of drought-resistant crop varieties during El Niño, and pest management on affected areas, in coordination with Regional Crop Protection Centers.

Strong El Niño ending this February

The weather state bureau PAGASA said Friday that the peak of El Niño is currently experienced in the country and is forecast to end this February.

PAGASA Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section chief Analiza Solis said that El Niño will persist until May but noted that it will begin to degrade.

"That's why even if the El Niño weakens or the temperature in the Pacific Ocean cools down because that is our indicator of whether an El Niño is strong, moderate, or weak, the impact that we will experience here in our country in terms of sectoral impacts, that's what we'll experience a bit,” she said.

Solis noted that there will be areas that will experience rain in May and June, but noted that it will not be that much.