CALAPAN CITY: The damage to agriculture in Oriental Mindoro by the ongoing dry spell reached more than P415 million, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) here reported on Friday, March 15.

Vinscent Gahol, head of the PDRRMO, said that based on a March 13 report by the Provincial Agriculturist Office, the total damage in agriculture is now at P415,421,044.35.

The amount is based on the reports submitted by the municipal agriculture offices from the four towns of the province.

"Damages are total or partial destruction of capital assets, infrastructure such as animal sheds, storage, ice plants, irrigation, inventory of goods like agricultural inputs; equipment, machinery; and raw materials for production, among others. Damages are valued as the cost of replacement or repair of destroyed structures or equipment at pre-disaster prices while agricultural products are valued at pre-disaster farm gate prices," the report said.

Among the affected crops are palay, red onions, melons, eggplants, ampalaya (bitter gourd), squash, mung beans, bananas, sweet potatoes, corn, bush sitao and watermelons.

Meanwhile, 1,279 farmers from the 12 barangay (villages) in Bulalacao town have been affected by the El Niño phenomenon. Also affected were 1,069 farmers from 12 villages in Mansalay town; 35 farmers from eight villages in Bongabong; and 45 farmers in Pinamalayan, the report said.

"We are still waiting for the reports from the other towns. The four towns that initially submitted their reports are from the southernmost towns of the province that are experiencing drought due to lack of rainfall. Most of the river systems in the area had already dried up," Gahol said in a phone interview.

"We are going to discuss this matter to the governor (Humerlito Dolor), to plan for the intervention that the provincial government could make."