Economic Impact of Super Typhoon Yolanda on the Livelihood of Coconut (Cocos nucifera) Farmers in Selected Areas of Leyte

This paper examines the impact of the super typhoon Yolanda on the livelihood of coconut farmers in Leyte using quantitative approach. Impact evaluation answers to the cause-and-effect questions thus providing information about the impact of and intervention or an event. The impact quantification will be done by analyzing the survey data using descriptive analysis, gross-margin analysis, means comparison, and propensity score matching method. The propensity score matching is a method of impact assessment where the multidimensionality of the data is reduced to a single dimension. A total of one hundred seventy-six (176) coconut farmers were interviewed face to face using structured questionnaire of which eighty-three (83) were from the not-affected area and ninety-three (93) were from the typhoon affected area. We find that the impact of the super typhoon has significantly reduced the annual income of coconut farmers. Majority of the farmers replanted the damaged coconut trees. It is recommended that the replanting of coconut trees must be assisted by government agencies to select better and resilient varieties of coconut. Farmers may also consider using an improved variety such as hybrid coconut varieties to maximize productivity of coconuts in Leyte, Philippines.