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Philippine floods: Over P1 billion in agricultural damage as monsoon hits vegetable farms
Filipino farmers face a double blow: damaged crops and very low buying prices. They also could not transport their produce due to bad weather conditions
- PUBLISHED: Mon 17 Aug 2026, 1:01 PM
Sixty-four-year-old Filipino grandmother Elia Jalota is currently staying at a crowded evacuation center in Bagong Silangan, Quezon City. Her house and water cabbage (kangkong) patch are flooded by the ongoing southwest monsoon battering the Philippines since the start of the month.
“We have somehow gotten used to this life already, living in evacuation centers whenever it floods,” she told Khaleej Times.
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Bagong Silangan is an urban poor community located on the edge of the Marikina River. Some of its residents, like Elia, raise water cabbages, sweet potatoes, taro and other lowland vegetables that thrive on the river’s frequently flooded banks. The vegetable patches, however, have shrunk in recent years as billion-peso flood control projects have been built along the waterway.
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The flood mitigation infrastructure projects for Bagong Silangan were prompted by the massive floods that hit most of Luzon Island in 2009. Typhoon Ondoy killed 36 residents of the community alone.
But even after billions of pesos were spent on these anti-flood projects, Elia’s house and vegetable patch are inundated by the monsoons and typhoons.
Recovery assistance now
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Farmers’ Movement of the Philippines) called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to immediately provide production subsidies and recovery assistance to vegetable farmers hit by floods and continuous rains from the monsoon and typhoon weather disturbances.
As of Monday, August 17, agricultural damage has surpassed P1 billion (Dh60 million), including P589 million (Dh35.6 million) in rice and P313 million (Dh18.9 million) in vegetables, according to the DA.
KMP said vegetable farmers are facing a double blow: damaged crops and very low buying prices. Like grandmother Elia, whose crops have been inundated, they can no longer sell their produce due to bad weather and flooding.
The farmers’ group reported long lines of trucks at the La Trinidad Trading Post in the upland province of Benguet that could not transport their produce due to bad weather conditions.
The farmers also complain of low prices. Cabbage is selling for as low as P8 (Dh0.48), carrots at P30 (Dh1.80), broccoli at P80 (Dh4.84), potatoes at P75 (Dh4.48), and Chinese cabbage at P20 (Dh1.20) per kilo. “Vegetable farmers are losing both their crops and their income. Those who manage to harvest cannot even sell their produce at decent prices. Yet the DA has no immediate production support for them,” said KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos.
The La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post recorded a 1,800-metric-ton reduction in vegetable deliveries from August 1 to 10, reflecting the disruption in production and transport. Millions of pesos worth of vegetables were also damaged across Central Luzon.
According to KMP, Benguet and Mountain Province were among the hardest hit by the inclement weather. In Buguias town, around P300,000 (Dh18,000) worth of vegetable crops were damaged. In Mankayan town, 60 hectares were affected, with estimated losses of P3 million (Dh180,000) in lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, chayote and chili.
Farmers also reported losses of lettuce, cabbage and cucumber. Bauko and other areas also reported damage to sweet peas and rice. Over the weekend, farmers in Benguet dumped Chinese cabbage and carrots along the Labey-Lacamen Road in Tublay, Benguet, due to low prices and lack of buyers.
In the generally lowland provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and La Union, sugarcane, vegetable and rice farms are also affected. Rice-producing areas in Mindoro and Quezon provinces are likewise affected.
'Farmers need immediate support'
“The government cannot simply count the losses and leave farmers to recover on their own. Vegetable farmers need immediate support to recover their production and livelihood,” the KMP said.
There are as many as 11 million farmers, farm workers and fisherfolk, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. However, there are only over 5,000 insured farmers in the country. The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. is readying only P36 million (Dh2.18 million) in initial insurance payouts.
The losses are expected to increase this week as the Philippine weather agency forecasts “frequent rains” until the end of the week.