The El Niño drought has damaged crops worth P770 million in Western Visayas, the Office of Civil Defense-6 reported on Wednesday, April 3.
Iloilo had the highest crop damage at P519 million, OCD-6 Director Raul Fernandez said.
Crop damage in Antique was P130 million, Negros Occidental – P78 million, Aklan – P30 million, and Capiz -P12 million, he added.
Fernandez said that Guimaras has no reported damages as crops produced at the province are mainly mangoes.
He also said that Himamaylan City is still the lone local government unit in the region to have reported water shortages and they are still monitoring other towns and cities.
Despite the increased crop damages, the region cannot be declared under a State of Calamity, given that no WV province has made any declaration, he said.
While the OCD placed the crop damage in Negros Occidental at P78 million, Provincial Agriculturist Dina Genzola said it was P97.7 million as of March 27.*