Typhoon Yagi inflicts $2.4 bln damage on Vietnam’s agriculture sector: Deputy Minister

Yagi, the biggest storm to hit Asia this year, has inflicted damages estimated at VND60 trillion ($2.44 billion) on Vietnam’s agricultural sector, says Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Trung.

Trung revealed the estimate at a Wednesday meeting with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) country director for Vietnam Shantanu Chakraborty.

Yagi, the biggest typhoon to hit Vietnam in seven decades, has wiped away 0.33% of the agricultural sector’s GDP, Trung said. It damaged 300,000 hectares of paddy rice, orchards and vegetable gardens; 5,000 fisheries cages; and 167,000 hectares of forest. It also killed four million poultry heads and 30,000 cattle heads.

Vietnamese authorities appreciated international support as it recovered from the catastrophic consequences of Yagi, he said.

Trung also lauded cooperation between the ADB and the ministry in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, irrigation, and natural disaster prevention.

The two officials discussed other collaborations at the meeting.

Announcing a disaster relief grant of $2 million, Shantanu Chakraborty urged the Vietnamese government to quickly proceed with the Climate Resilient Inclusive Infrastructure for Ethnic Minorities (CRIEM II) project so that the ADB and the ministry could reach a loan agreement soon.

In its latest edition of the Asian Development Outlook (ADO), the ADB estimates Vietnam’s economic growth at 6% in 2024 and 6.2% in 2025, following a 6.4% expansion in the first half of this year.

The ADB's latest projection has not taken into account the impacts of super typhoon Yagi, which hit Vietnam early September.