Northern Mindanao’s food crops, excluding grains, have dropped by over 30 per cent in the second quarter in terms of volume harvested, compared to the same quarter last year.
The lower harvest has been blamed on dry weather conditions in Mindanao during the first half of the year, a regional official from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics told Business World.
Chief of the regional agricultural statistics office Carlito A Baclayon said the vegetable producing provinces of Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon were among the areas worst affected by the dry weather.
He added however that volumes of many fruit crops in other regions in Mindanao have increased by as much as 30 per cent in the second quarter including; banana, citrus, durian, mango, mangosteen, pineapple and watermelon.
Rice production has also been affected in the northern Philippines after typhoon Juan slammed into the country yesterday.
Department of Agriculture regional executive director Andrew Villacorta told PhilStar.com the areas of Isabela and Cagayan are expected to be the worst affected.
“Our estimates showed about 159,000 tonnes will be lost from Isabela. About 88,000ha will be affected. In Cagayan province, about 43,000ha will be affected. The estimated loss will be around 63,000 tonnes,” he said.
He said just over one-third of the rice crop had been harvested, while about 90 per cent of the corn crop had been harvested. Last year, the country lost 1.3m tonnes of paddy rice following three strong typhoons in September and October.
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