The local government of Looc town in Occidental Mindoro is appealing to government for rice assistance as farmers in the municipality continue to suffer damage and losses to crops due to the onslaught of El Niño.

In an interview on Monday, Mayor Marlon dela Torre lamented that majority of their crops — rice, vegetables and corn — can no longer be harvested as the weather phenomenon continues to dry their farmlands.

“It won’t bear fruit anymore because there is almost no water flowing, and all my farmers in Looc are really in trouble and almost sulk because they are fighting for water. They each find ways in which they will support their crops,” Torre Dela said.

He added that there is a weak supply of water from their river, adding that their town also has no impounding area.

“I hope that the dam would be repaired, especially the canals leading to the farm streams; those are the ones that were damaged. The water that flows slightly does not reach our rice fields,” the mayor said.

Dela Torre also sought help from the government and national agencies on urgently fixing their dams, citing that the water dams that supply water to their plantation are also damaged.

He also asked for rice assistance, as their farmers’ initial harvest from the first crop had already been exhausted.

“I am worried about my townsmen that they will have to endure for several months because we have no more rice to buy here in the town of Looc. That’s the sad thing; we are the producer [of rice], but we have nothing to eat because of the effect of El Niño. That’s what we need, a supply of rice,” Dela Torre said.

Meanwhile, Task Force El Niño spokesperson Joey Villarama said that Looc could receive aid once their local government unit submits a report declaring a state of calamity.

“The regional field office of the Department of Agriculture will take it, assess it, forward it to the central office, and then task the quick response fund,” Villarama said, adding that the quick response fund can only be used for the rehabilitation of farmlands.

“I understand the mayor is asking for help in terms of their food, so that’s where the Office of Civil Defense comes in. So the lead agency in Task Force El Niño is actually the Department of National Defense because we are looking at public safety, public security, and emergency situations. OCD will be able to provide rice to the affected farmers and their families,” he added.

Meantime, the DA 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 percent, have a chance of recovery and 328 hectares, or 8.48 percent, are unrecoverable.

Rice outputs incurred the biggest 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 percent, have a chance of recovery.