Marcos says agriculture damage is ‘biggest problem’ after series of typhoons

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Monday said the country’s “biggest problem” now is the billions of pesos in agriculture damage left by the series of destructive typhoons that hit the country with the most recent one leaving seven dead.

Mr. Marcos on Tuesday said the government was particularly concerned about the damage to agriculture left by Super Typhoon Man-Yi (Pepito), which made a landfall on Catanduanes island in Bicol region late on Saturday and over Aurora on Sunday.

“The biggest problem, of course, was agriculture damage,” he told reporters in Filipino on the sidelines of his visit to Catanduanes, noting that the province of Catanduanes is the center of production of abaca (Manila hemp) in the Philippines.

The Philippines supplies 85% of the world’s abaca fiber, earning about $80 million per year.

Bicol region was the largest producer of abaca in the Philippines, accounting for 40.1% of the country’s production, according to 2019 data from the statistics agency. It also had the largest area planted for abaca, with 43.16 thousand hectares in 2019.

Data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Tuesday morning showed agriculture damage due to Man-Yi and two other typhoons that hit the country in span of just two weeks had hit P8.64 million; while damage to infrastructure had risen to P469.84 million.

National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan on Friday told BusinessWorld that the government expects the agriculture sector to be among the hardest-hit sectors in the face of cyclones.

“Agriculture, in the third quarter, declined by 2.8%. For the whole year, it’s likely negative for agriculture,” he said.

Jonathan L. Ravelas, senior adviser at professional service firm Reyes Tacandong & Co., said the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter will likely decline.

The full year figure for 2024 may hit only 5.8%, lower than the 6-7% expansion that the government has projected for the year.

The GDP for 2025 may also miss the government’s 6.5-7.5% target, with the economist expecting a 6.5% expansion.

“We already saw weak quarters for agriculture,” he said in a Viber message on Tuesday.

Mr. Marcos had already expressed frustration for climate change’s economic impacts, saying in October that its damage to the national economy could reach up to 7.6% of the gross domestic product by 2030.

Due largely to the impacts of weather disturbances and reduced government spending, the Philippine economy grew by 5.2% in the third quarter, lower than the revised 6.4% growth in the second quarter and the government’s 5.7% forecast.

The agriculture sector saw a 2.8% decline year-on-year, which NEDA linked to the El Niño and seven typhoons, including Severe Tropical Storm Trami (Kristine), had caused an estimated P15.8 billion in agricultural damage.

The successive storms disrupted supply chains and delayed harvests, he noted.

A Nov. 6 report by the Philippine Statistics Agency showed agricultural production experienced the steepest decline in nearly four years.

The value of production in agriculture and fisheries at constant 2018 prices fell by 3.7% to P397.43 billion in the July-to-September period, according to the report, worse than the 0.2% decline in the same period a year ago and the 3.8% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Mr. Marcos, fresh from an aerial inspection in Catanduanes on Tuesday, said that in the “immediate” term, the government is focused on providing reconstruction materials for affected families.

He handed over P50 million to the provincial government for its recovery efforts.

The Philippine weather bureau has lifted all wind signals due to Man-Yi as it weakened into a severe tropical storm and exited the Philippine area of responsibility on Monday afternoon.

NDRRMC said in its Tuesday morning report that seven people died due to a landslide during the onslaught of Man-Yi, 30 people were injured, while two others were reported missing during the typhoons that hit the country within just two weeks.

It said the cyclones had affected 1.8 million individuals, equivalent to nearly half a million families.

NDRRMC said 20 cities and municipalities have declared a state of calamity as of Nov. 19.

Four storms had hit the country in the last two weeks, a phenomenon that the weather bureau said was not odd.

It is expecting two more cyclones to enter the country in December, when the predominantly Catholic nation sees a surge in demand related to Christmas festivities. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza