TABUK CITY (13 August) -- Amidst the rainfall last week which may have shed a ray of hope among farmers in the province, the Office of Agricultural Services (OAS) in its initial report during the recent Kapihan sa Kapitolyo said that the province has already incurred a total damage of P86,176,000 in corn due to dry spell.

In a report presented by Dr. Juliana Aclam, Assistant Provincial Agriculturist and Provincial Corn Coordinator, she said that from the total 6,552 hectares of corn plantation in the entire province, 1,310.40 hectares have no chance of recovery while 5,241.60 hectares could still be recovered.

"Aside from the damaged crop, our report also includes farmers' loses in farm inputs and labor," she said explaining that the previous report given to the media last week only reflect the amount of damaged crop.

For Pinukpuk, the OAS reported that out of the 2,247 hectares around 449.4 hectares were destroyed incurring a total input and damage lost amounting to P29,211,000.

Of the 1,702 hectares of f Rizal, an estimated 340.4 has. had been assessed as having no chance of recovery, incurring an estimated loss to be around P22,126,000.

In Tabuk, farmers lost a total amount P28,629,000 for the 440.6 has. of corn damaged by the dry spell. Tabuk has a total of 2,203 has. cornfields.

Tanudan, on the other hand, incurred loss amounting to P5.2 million for the damaged 80 has. from the municipality's 400 has. corn plantation.

As the national government's response to mitigate the impact of draught among farmers, DA Secretary Arthur Yap assured that DA is ready to extend assistance to affected farmers by setting up small-water impounding works in dry areas and offering alternative means of livelihood such as the distribution of palay seeds and offering farmers alternative means of livelihood like plant short-gestating vegetables.