Agricultural Losses Top NT$1 Billion Due to Typhoon Danas

Taipei: Estimates of agricultural losses in Taiwan due to Typhoon Danas have risen to at least NT$1.005 billion (US$31 million), the Ministry of Agriculture said Monday. As of 5 p.m. Monday, crop damage had covered 9,067 hectares of farmland, or about 1.5 percent of Taiwan's arable land, with an average loss rate of 30 percent, equivalent to 2,750 hectares of total crop failure, it said. According to Focus Taiwan, the most affected crop was bananas, with 1,098 hectares damaged at a 35 percent loss rate, resulting in NT$130.22 million in losses. Other severely impacted crops included pomelos, bamboo shoots, oranges, and tangerines. To help farmers recover from the storm damage, the ministry has activated emergency cash relief and low-interest loan programs for the hardest hit areas of Tainan, Chiayi County and Chiayi City. Crops severely affected are exempt from on-site inspections to expedite assistance, the ministry said, and farmers without planting records can use the ministry's disaster photo app to su bmit visual proof of damage. Danas made landfall in Budai Township, Chiayi County, late Sunday as a typhoon and weakened into a tropical storm early Monday before moving north of Taiwan on Monday evening. The storm left two people dead and 502 injured.