KORONADAL CITY, April 17 -- Officials of South Cotabato's town of Surallah placed their area under a state of calamity due to the El Nino phenomenon that heavily affected the agriculture sector, damaging over PHP71 million worth of crops.

Surallah Mayor Pedro Matinong Jr. said in an interview Wednesday that nine of the town's 17 barangays have sustained heavy losses in agriculture and livestock so far.

The severely affected villages include Buenavista, Canahay, Centrala, Dajay, Duengas, Lamian, Little Baguio, Talahik, and Upper Sepaka.

Data from the Surallah municipal agriculture office showed that 1,178 farmers were affected, and nearly 1,000 hectares of agriculture and inland water fishery areas were damaged.

On Tuesday, the Sanggu...