Farm damage from the El Nino dry spell has reached P8 billion, lower than government estimates, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said Thursday.

For the country’s staple grain alone, the drought damaged 233,000 tons of palay as of April 16, which is around a quarter of the 979,000 tons that was projected, Alcala told ANC’s “Market Edge with Cathy Yang.”

The total P8 billion in damages as of April 16 included rice, corn, high value crops and livestock, he said.

The government has allocated P2.2 billion in assistance to farmers hit by the drought, which the state weather bureau projected to be the most intense in recent years.

Earlier this month, two people were killed after police dispersed a group of drought-hit farmers who barricaded a main highway in the impoverished southern town of Kidapawan.