Iloilo province in the Western Visayas region has already incurred agricultural damage worth more than P1 billion, an official said on Friday.

According to Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. in a radio interview, based on the 15 municipalities' declaration of a state of calamity, they have already reached the requirement of the percentage of population and livelihood affected by the phenomenon, citing that damage to their agriculture is already substantial.

With the declaration of the state calamity, Defensor said their province now has access to additional government funds, which they will be mobilizing to address the El-Nino-rooted challenges in their province.

“The number one purpose for the declaration of the state of calamity is the Quick Response Fund that we can add to our resources,” he said.

Defensor, however, said that he doesn’t have the figures of the exact value of the agricultural damage but noted, “Yesterday I checked; it is already exceeding P1 billion, if I remember it right. On the reports of our municipalities, of course, the biggest damage we see is... because we are mainly an agricultural province, we are planting rice. So we have a lot of damage to our crop and other high-value crops and the livestock as well.”

Moreover, because of the phenomenon, he said that their groundwater resources are affected.

Defensor said that the extreme heat has caused the waters on their rivers to decline.

“Our sources have already been exhausted,” he said.

The latest report from the Department of Agriculture shows that agricultural damage due to El Niño in the country has reached P6.35 billion.

The volume losses from the affected agricultural areas were estimated at 134,828 MT for palay; 105,896 MT for corn; 28,956 MT for high-value crops; and 140 MT for cassava, totaling 269,416 MT.

Over P2.3 billion worth of assistance has been extended to farmers whose livelihoods were adversely affected by El Niño.