Philippines: Three percent of farm output lost to typhoon

Terra Daily, via Agence France-Presse: About three percent of this year's projected Philippines farm output worth five billion pesos (111 million dollars) has been lost to Typhoon Fengshen, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said Monday. The country can offset the loss with a good harvest over the next three months, he told reporters, allaying fears of shortages of rice and other cereals.

"There's still time to run after and make up for the losses because we still have a planting horizon of up to September 15," Yap said. "Everything that is planted on the ground up to September 15 can still be harvested this year. So if you look at the damage, the total impact on national production would be about three percent. We can make up for it."

Half the loss was owing to the destruction of fish ponds and fishing vessels, including 30 percent of the commercial fishing fleet of the central province of Iloilo, while the balance was from crops lost, Yap said….

Satellite image of the Philippines, NASA, Wikimedia Commons