According to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, the damage to agricultural crops in South Cotabato as a result of the prevailing dry spell has increased to around P80 million (€1.3 mln) as the affected farm areas continued to expand as of Tuesday.
Ma. Luisa Santillana, operations chief of OPAG-South Cotabato, said three of the province’s 10 municipalities and lone city have already reported severe damages to crops due to the worsening dry weather triggered by the El Niño phenomenon. She said the affected areas already reached some 2,273 hectares.
“We expect the damage figures and affected areas to increase in the coming days as the other municipalities have yet to submit their reports,” she said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
It so far affected a total of 1,167 hectares of farm lands in Barangays Naci, Moloy, Veterans, Upper Sepaka, Tubi-allah, Lamsugod, Lambontong, Buenavista, Canahay, Centrala and Colongulo.
