News Details

DA lowers ‘Kristine' damage to palay after validation

NPO

•

November 6, 2024

PNA

MANILA – Damage to palay production due to Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (international name Trami) was lowered by over a half after validation of the Department of Agriculture-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DA-DRRM) Operations Center.

From 516,438 metric tons (MT) volume of palay production losses logged over the weekend, it dropped to 239,302 MT.

“The decrease in production was due to validation conducted by the Regional Field Offices,” the DA-DRRM said in its latest bulletin.

The value of production losses in rice, however, was higher at PHP4.46 billion, from the previous reported amount of PHP4.25 billion.

This came as the DA-DRRM reported a wider area of land affected equivalent to 107,820 hectares, with 38,398 hectares totally damaged and 69,422 hectares partially damaged or still having a chance of recovery.

The DA earlier said this year’s palay production loss breached the annual average loss ranging from 500,000 MT to 600,000 MT due to the combined effects of the El Niño phenomenon, various weather disturbances, and La Niña.

The DA-DRRM has yet to release its official tallied volume losses in palay production since January.

Despite this, the DA assured sufficient rice supply in the country with more imports coming in under the lower tariffs.

As of Oct. 30, the total rice import arrivals are already at 3.79 million MT, higher than the total 3.6 million MT annual rice import in 2023.

The DA further assured that it is continuously monitoring prices and road networks for any changes in prices and movement of agricultural commodities.