Juaning left P404-million agri-fishery damage in Bikol

PILI Camarines Sur (Aug 3, 2011) – Damages to agriculture, fishery, livestock and irrigation infrastructures under the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) have mounted to 404,843,808.61 million pesos, as reported by the the Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office here on Monday (Aug.1).

But reports from the field indicate that damages to agriculture in Camarines Sur and Albay provinces may increase further because many towns in both provinces are still submerged in flood and palay crops continue to deteriorate in flooded ricefields.

Palay losses in the 6 provinces of Bikol have reached 30,915.07 hectares with lost yield placed at 29, 023.47 metric tons of palay valued at 85,580.700 million pesos.

DA Bicol executive director Jose Dayao said, affected farmers mostly in Camarines Sur and Albay have reached 23,170, many of them replanting their rice fields for the second time after typhoon “Bebeng” devastated their crops back in May.

To guard against potential losses in the last cropping season this year, Dayao said that Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda has worked with the DA to encourage rice-farmers to avail of crop insurance, wherein the DA and the Provincial government will join forces to provide premium payments for farmers, provided rice-farmers use certified seeds.

According to Dayao, this is the only remedy for the farmers to recover from their losses during floodings that will inevitably come to Camarines Sur and Albay

Albay is prone to floods because the volcanic soil in most towns of the province does not absorb much water causing run off. Camarines Sur towns, on the other hand, are mostly natural catch basins.

Dayao also said that the Aquino Government should reconsider its decision to scrap the Bicol River Basin Project, which was earlier revived by the previous administration, to solve the problem of floodings in Camarines Sur.

Funds from the now defunct Bicol River Basin Water Management Program (BRBWMP) have been chanelled to the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that have taken over all flood control projects. (With reports from Sonny Sales)