Typhoon Haiyan which hit the Philippines on November 8th caused severe damage to the country’s agricultural and fishery sectors. According to the UN farmers are scrambling to replant destroyed crops for the current agricultural crop year. Estimates are that 153,495 hectares of rice, corn, cassava, and vegetables have been destroyed at a cost of approximately $225 million. The UN goes on to predict that the Philippines, which has traditionally been a rice-importing nation will need to increase its rice imports by a daunting 20% in 2014 to 1.4 million metric tons. The country’s total cereal imports this season are estimated to be 11% above last year at 4.7 million tons. The country’s fishery sector which represents 20% of the Philippine’s total agricultural production has also been severely damaged. In the Visayas region there were 1,500 commercial fishing vessels before the typhoon and according to the UN nearly all were destroyed.
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