THE Department of Agriculture (DA) does not expect the prices of agricultural commodities, particularly rice, to go up despite the damage caused by Typhoons Luis and Maymay and the southwest monsoon.
DA Assistant Secretary Arnel De Mesa on Wednesday said that as of Aug. 11, damage to the agricultural sector has reached over P197 million.
He said the largest portion of this was from rice fields at P143 million, followed by vegetables and other high-value crops at P30 million. Damage to irrigation facilities was recorded at about P15.8 million.
However, De Mesa said the volume of agricultural products lost from the two typhoons "was just a very small fraction" at 4,500 metric tons (MT), compared to the annual production of 20 million MT.
"So because of that, we do not expect any movement in the prices of our agricultural commodities, especially rice," De Mesa said during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon interview.
"For vegetables, there might be a slight movement because our lowland vegetables here in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog were affected," he said.
“However, vegetable farms recover quickly, so that price movement will not be that significant either," De Mesa added. Bernadette Tamayo
© Copyright 2025 The SSResource Media.
All rights reserved.