Visayas provinces start counting huge losses

MANILA, Philippines – Provinces in Eastern and Western Visayas, two regions hardest hit by Typhoon “Frank,” have started to count their agricultural losses, and the emerging sum paints a gloomy picture. In Eastern Visayas, Department of Agriculture officials said, at least P46 million worth of palay were destroyed, threatening to further impoverish some 9,000 farmers. Leo Cañeda said the region lost at least 2,000 metric tons of palay, or about 1 percent of projected production this year. The DA had hoped the region’s rice harvest would hit at least a million metric tons this year from 987,000 MT last year. Cañeda said Leyte was the worst hit province. In Western Visayas, officials counting Negros Occidental’s losses projected at least P300 million in damages in agriculture and infrastructure. The figures were in a report... [read full story]