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Typhoons Caused P 1.0 B Agricultural Loss In Region I?

Agriculture, the Ilocos Region’s biggest contributor to its Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), suffered a letdown as a result of the typhoons that devastated the region towards the end of 1998. Typhoons Emang and Gading which occurred in September, and Iliang and Loleng which occurred in early October left the region reeling off from an estimated loss of 1.0 billion pesos. Among the crops, palay was the hardest hit affecting 183.4 thousand hectares of ricelands. This translated to production losses of 202.5 thousand metric tons of palay with an estimated value of 417.2 million pesos or 40.1 percent of the total amount of losses in the region. Commercial crops followed closely with the highest amount of production losses at 367.6 million pesos or 35.3 percent. Fishery came in next at 229.3 million pesos or 22.0 percent.

Table 1. Summary of Agricultural Damage Due to Typhoons Emang, Gading, Iliang and Loleng by Crop and by Province, Region I: 1998

Pangasinan suffered the biggest loss among the provinces amounting to 962.0 million pesos which accounted for 92.3 percent of the total value of damages wrought by the typhoons in the region. This was due to the large amount of damages in palay, livestock/poultry, fishery and commercial crops which were 88.1 percent, 94.7 percent, 99.1 percent and 93.3 percent, respectively, of the region’s total amount of losses in the respective sectors.

The combined damages caused by Emang and Gading reached 814.3 million pesos. This constituted 78.2 percent of the total losses incurred in the region in 1998 due to typhoons.

Table 2. Value of Damages by Typhoon and by Province, Region I: 1998

Source of Basic Data: Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, Regional Operations Center I

2/ Commercial crops include mango, sineguelas, banana, cashew, guayabano, papaya, coconut, chico, calamansi, mungo, sitao, ampalaya, peanut, eggplant, okra, sweet potato, cotton, sugarcane and squash.

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