By CESAR JOLITO III

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is mobilizing efforts to provide rice seeds to farmers whose crops were destroyed by recent flooding due to heavy rains.

According to DA-Western Visayas Regional Director Engineer Jose Albert Barrogo, rice planters can resume planting soon as sufficient seed supply is available.

The new cropping season is expected to yield harvests by late August or September.

“We are working on the availability of seeds so that farmers can replant immediately. We have no problem with seed supply as [the Philippine Rice Research Institute] has already allocated seeds for distribution,” Barrogo said.

Farmers with crop insurance under the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation can also claim full indemnification for their losses.

Based on DA-Negros Island Region data, as of July 21, around 48 hectares of rice fields were damaged, amounting to an estimated loss of P12 million.

Damages to corn and high-value crops reached P631,000.

Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office reported total agricultural losses of P17.2 million, broken down into P13.4 million in crops, P1.3 million in aquaculture, and P2.3 million in livestock.

Barrogo assured affected farmers that the DA is closely coordinating with local government units to expedite assistance and seed distribution to ensure a timely recovery of agricultural production in the province./CJ, WDJ