The Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Friday that rice production has suffered the most in terms of agriculture damage due to the El Niño dry spell, which has affected the livelihoods of more than 60,000 rice farmers.

DA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel De Mesa said in a televised interview that at present, over 58,000 hectares of rice-cultivated areas have been affected, of which 18,842 Ha are totaly damaged and unrecoverable.

He, however, said that the affected area is small compared to the forecasted 120,000 affected areas.

“If we compare, our estimate is that when (weather bureau) PAGASA notified us, (120,000) hectares would be affected, but because we are proactive in implementing programs and interventions to fight El Niño, we have reduced the affected hectares,” he said in Filipino.

“If we also compare to the worst El Niño we experienced in 1997 and 1998, more than 370,000 hectares were affected,” he added.

De Mesa said that in terms of commercial value, production losses of palay (unmilled rice) at present are higher than in the past El Niño season, as palay are more expensive today.

“There is bigger damage in terms of commercial value because rice is more expensive now; it is worth P23 to P30. Back in the days, rice was still very cheap. But in terms of area and volume, (now) is smaller compared to before,” he said.

The DA reported on Thursday that crop damage due to El Niño has climbed to P5.9 billion.

Interventions worth P2.18 billion have been given to affected farmers and fishermen, including the provision of agricultural inputs such as cash aid and loans, rice machines, water pumps and cloud seeding operations.

The DA official said, citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, that the harvest for the first quarter of this year will decrease by 100,000 metric tons (MT) — from 4.78 million MT last year to 4.68 million MT at present.