Maranao farmers suffering from `Vinta' aftermath

COTABATO CITY --- Maranaos lost P152.4 million worth of crops when tropical storm Vinta pummeled the province last month.Reports reaching the executive department here of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao stated that the typhoon destroyed P88.9 million worth of harvestable rice crops in farms along Lake Lanao that were hit by flashfloods.More than a dozen rice and corn-producing towns in Lanao del Sur, a component-province of ARMM, were ravaged by flash floods due to heavy downpours spawned by storm Vinta.In a report Friday to the office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, the provincial office of the region’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries said P3.8 million worth of livestock, including cattle and horses, were drowned in rampaging floodwaters.Strong winds had also reportedly flattened orchard farms, destroying P10.8 million worth of fruit-bearing trees.The storm Vinta also damaged no less than P5 million worth of farm machineries, including mobile corn shelling equipment and rice threshers of Maranao farmers.Regional DAF officials said the office of Lanao del Sur Gov. Soraya Adiong and the executive department of ARMM are now addressing the needs of the agriculture sector in the province.Hataman said DAF-ARMM will embark on interventions, such as dispersal of seeds and other farm inputs, to hasten the recovery of calamity-stricken Maranao farming communities.