According to the estimates publicized by the Kumamoto Prefectural Government on May 13, damages sustained to agriculture, forestry and fishery industries in the prefecture following the Kumamoto earthquakes and aftershocks have totaled around 134.5 billion yen.
More than 7700 farmlands and agricultural facilities have been damaged. Continuing aftershocks, however, make it difficult for the prefectural government to determine to what amount those damages should total. Figures of the damages are expected to further rise.
The total damage was put at the preliminary 134.5 billion yen by the prefectural government on the basis of latest estimates made by local municipalities and its own estimate. The agriculture in the prefecture has sustained an estimated 94.3 billion yen in damages, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the total damage to the primary industry.
The damage to agriculture includes 60.3 billion yen of quake-hit farmlands and reservoirs used for irrigation. In a number of rural communities, slopes of paddy and upland fields were crumbled and fissures were formed in farmlands. Reservoirs and irrigation channels were also partly destroyed in many places.
Estimated damages to agricultural and livestock products have totaled 1.1 billion yen, out of which 90 percent sustained to livestock farming in the prefecture. 185 hectares of vegetable fields were also damaged.
Damages to agricultural facilities have amounted to nearly 32.9 billion yen. 213 facilities of agricultural cooperatives, including country elevators and grading houses jointly used by member farmers, were harmed. Collapsed livestock barns and farm machine damages reached 1140 cases.