The Department of Agriculture (DA) advises farmers and fishers in eastern Luzon and Visayas to prepare as rains and strong winds may adversely affect their crops and fishing operations, due to approaching “Typhoon Bising” (international code name: Surigae) that has entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
Based on the latest forecast of the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (DOST-PAGASA) “Bising” remains with a low chance of landfall as it will re-curve away from the Philippine landmass, while heading towards Eastern Visayas or Bicol regions.
However, considering the uncertainty in the track forecast, a westward shift in the current forecast track may result in potentially significant impacts over the aforementioned areas over the weekend until Monday, according to PAGASA.
“We, therefore, advise our farmers in Bicol and Eastern Visayas that may be affected by Typhoon Bising to harvest their crops, whenever possible,” said Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
“We also urge fishermen near the typhoon’s path to take precautionary measures and refrain from fishing as conditions may worsen,” the DA chief added.
He also instructed the DA regional directors in Eastern Visayas, Bicol, and Northern Mindanao to mobilize their respective regional disaster risk reduction and management teams to quickly respond to areas that may be affected.
In a report to Secretary Dar, DA Regional Field Office 8 (Eastern Visayas) Director Angel Enriquez said that currently, there are more than 125,000 hectares (ha) planted to rice under the reproductive stage (62,972 ha) and maturity stage (62,902 ha), and 460 ha planted to corn.
Enriquez said she has issued an advisory to Eastern Visayas provinces through the respective agricultural program coordinating office (APCO), to conduct an inventory of available buffer stocks, and encourage farmers to conduct early harvesting.
Secretary Dar said the DA through its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center (DRRM OpCen) will from here on issue regular daily weather bulletins. ### (DA StratComms)
