The Ministry responsible for Disaster Risk Management and the Ministry of Agriculture are already anticipating major financial losses to farmers in the parts of the country that was most affected by the flash flood.
Here's what Minister Habet had to say about the major spoilage of crops that were either already matured, or in the process of harvesting - but which are now underwater:
Orlando Habet - Minister of Disaster Risk Management
"A lot of the production for agricultural food items in the Spanish Lookout/Cayo area was affected, especially soybeans, black beans, red beans, and also corn. And some of these were already - the process for harvesting had already commenced. So when it rains came and the flooding increases, some of these went underwater. Some of them are still underwater. So, maybe there'll be a certain percentage that will still be able to be harvested. However, spoilage commences very quickly because they're now soaked up in floodwater. They will have to be put through a drying process, which is also expensive. But also, the cost of harvesting increases because the machinery, the combine, which normally does the harvesting for corn and beans, will not be able to pick them up off the ground. So, if they want to really get some of that product that's now in the ground, it will involve manual harvesting, which is very expensive and very inefficient. Many times, the water soaks into the seeds, and they start germinating even before you are able to harvest them. So, there would be significant losses, but as the Colonel mentioned, we would be able to do an estimate after the waters recede. However, the Minister of Agriculture has already deployed his teams from the Agriculture Department to start doing assessments where the water has commenced to recede, and they can start to do some of those assessments."
