BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — The government is hastening the provision of various assistance for victims severely affected by typhoons “Karen” and “Lawin,” Department of Agriculture(DA) officials here said .
Celerina Miranda, DA provincial chief said they have already completed the report of damages caused by the two typhoons right after their landfall which includes the proposed Rehabilitation Plan for the affected faremrs.
“We had an overtime of work just to submit these report requirements to top management so that immediate release of calamity assistance will also be released on time,” she said.
Miranda said in Nueva Vizcaya alone, typhoon “Karen” has damaged more than 5,000 hectares of rice plantations while typhoon “Lawin” also devastated more than 6,500 hectares of the same crop.
“We only have small damages on our corn crop during ‘Karen’s” fury but it rose to more than 709, 000 hectares when “Lawin” landed,” she said.
On high value crops, Miranda said typhoon “Karen” destroyed more than 168.7 hectares plantations in the province while “Lawin” damaged more than 200 hectares.
“Typhoon ‘Lawin’ devastated those remaining plantations that typhoon “Karen” spared. With this, we are encouraging our farmers to report any damage on their crops no matter how small it is,” Miranda said.
She also advised farmers to closely coordinate with their Agricultural Extension Workers(AEWs) so that their crop damages will be fully reported and validated.
“They should also contact them regularly so they will be updated on our programs, projects and assistance later,” Miranda said. PNA-northboundasia.com