Foreign governments and international organizations have pledged $3.9 million in crop-production assistance for farmers in Region 4-A (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon or Calabarzon) which were devastated by typhoon "Ondoy."

The amount, vowed during Wednesday’s pledging session for the United Nations-sponsored Philippine Flash Appeal, is expected to somehow mitigate the impact of Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng. Ondoy alone caused more than P8 billion in losses to agriculture, hitting 240,000 farmers tilling 260,000 hectares of rice lands.

A total of 375,000 metric tons of rice were lost, which the Department of Agriculture (DA) said could cover the national demand for one week. Other independent estimates set the damage at more than P12 billion, warning of shortages of the staple because of possible delay in planting.

DA has set a benchmark of P25,000 damage per hectare of rice farms. It also pegged the damage to irrigation facilities that actually supply only 50 percent of their coverage areas at P894 million.

To beef up help for agricultural producers, DA has asked the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for more cash to rehabilitate irrigation facilities and get them ready for the summer crop.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap also sought aid for Regions 1, 2 and 3, which bore the brunt of the fury of Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng during the pledging session for the UN-sponsored Philippine Flash Appeal held Wednesday at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City .

Formally launched the day before in Geneva, Switzerland, the Philippine Flash Appeal is being sponsored by the UN and its various agencies to harness support, in cash and in kind, from the international community for more than four million disaster victims of the two howlers that hit Metro Manila, five Luzon regions and the Zamboanga Peninsula .

Initially focused on such relief and rehabilitation support as water, sanitation and other health projects for disaster victims in Metro Manila and Region 4-A, the donors agreed to extend $3.9 million in farm assistance, particularly seeds and other inputs to farmers whose standing crops were wiped out.

"We thank the donor-countries and - organizations for expanding this new aid program to include the agriculture sector," Yap said after the initial pledging session. "We are hoping that they will be just as receptive to the joint move by the DA and FAO for an emergency flash appeal for agriculture repair and rehabilitation, specifically for the repair or rehabilitation of irrigation facilities that were damaged by 'Ondoy" and 'Pepeng'."

"We are not fixing an exact amount for this supplemental aid because we need all the help we can get at this point, given the extent of the damage wrought by the two typhoons on irrigation facilities," he added.

Yap said this emergency flash appeal for irrigation infrastructure came about during his meeting with FAO representative Kazuyuki Tsurumi on the sidelines of the pledging session.