The estimate of the nation’s agricultural losses caused by Typhoon Soudelor had risen to NT$600 million (US$18.9 million) as of 6pm yesterday, with Hualien County the hardest hit, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.
Agricultural losses in Hualien were estimated at NT$134 million, followed by Tainan at NT$124 million, Kaohsiung at NT$79.1 million, Taoyuan at NT$47 million and Pingtung County at NT$44 million.
The estimate of the damage caused by the typhoon is likely to continue to increase in coming days, the council said.
Photo: CNA
Bananas were the hardest-hit crop, suffering losses of NT$125 million, with pomeloes, taros, bamboo shoots and Chinese leeks, also known as kow choi (jiucai, 韭菜), also affected by the storm.
Output from Changhua County’s Sijhou Township (溪州), considered the nation’s largest guava producing area, is not expected to resume for at least three to four months, according to local farmers.
Prior to Soudelor making landfall, the Changhua area was buffeted by foehn winds for an entire night, causing pollinated flowers and immature fruit in more than 500 hectares of guava farms to be “roasted,” local farmer Chang Lung-tan (張龍潭) said, adding that after Soudelor turned southward, the winds whipped the dried fruit and flowers from the trees.
Photo: Lin I-chang, Taipei Times
The majority of Tainan’s agricultural losses were pomeloes, the Tainan City Government said.
Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) visited Madou (麻豆) to assess the damage, promising to appeal on the farmers’ behalf for council subsidies according to the Agricultural Natural Disaster Relief Regulations (農業天然災害救助辦法), adding that he would also ask if the army is willing to provide personnel to help farmers more quickly clear out their orchards.
Yunlin County Legislator Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) visited the county’s affected areas and received complaints from “new farmers” that their greenhouses, which many had built for NT$3 million on bank loans of NT$2 million, were damaged.
Chang said that she has asked the Agriculture and Food Agency to schedule inspections of damage caused by the typhoon, and that she would also ask the central government to fund exclusive subsidies for these farmers.
The council yesterday estimated that livestock, aquaculture and forestry losses, as well as losses suffered by animal husbandry operations, totaled NT$84.7 million.
Strong winds along the Chiayi County coast devastated the region’s prized oyster and clam farms, which suffered losses that might be the most severe in two decades.
The Dongshih (東石) and Pudai (布袋) townships together produce an estimated 9,500 tonnes of oysters and clams per year in an industry valued at NT$2.15 billion, oyster farmer Tsai Mao-chi (蔡茂記) said.
Preliminary estimates place losses at nearly NT$100 million, Tsai said, adding that oyster and clam production will be halved in the second half of the year and the losses will also directly affect resellers and restaurants.
The industry will take more than half a year, maybe even up until March next year, to recover from its losses, Tsai said.
Chiayi official Lee Chien-lin (李建霖) said that between 8,000 and 9,000 floating oyster farms were damaged by the storm, but the local fisheries association still needs to determine the exact figure.
One oyster farmer, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his losses from Soudelor were worse than from Typhoon Morakot, as he lost 90 oyster farms, each costing NT$60,000 in overheads. Along with losses from oysters swept out to sea, Chen said he has lost more than NT$6 million.
Additional reporting by Liu Wan-chun and Yen Hung-chun
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