• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The declaration of a state of calamity in Negros Occidental partly due to the infestation of the red-striped soft scale insect (RSSI) in sugarcane plantations will hasten the procurement of pesticides, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) head Pablo Luis Azcona said on Friday (July 25).
Azcona acknowledged the move of Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jose Benito Alonso in taking cognizance of the immediate problem facing the sugar industry.
If not fully contained, RSSI can reduce sugar content in sugarcane by up to 50 percent, according to the SRA.
All in all, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and SRA have allocated P15 million for the immediate purchase of pesticides to address the RSSI infestation.
“We can now move forward to utilize the P10-million assistance from the DA so our farmers, especially the small ones, can start working on their fields and make sure that their canes can recover or are protected from RSSI,” Azcona said.
He also ordered a reassessment of the RSSI-infested fields to see whether the storm has somehow reduced its presence from sugarcanes and to proceed with the testing of organic solutions such as the use of fungus for long-term use.
As of July 17, the RSSI infestation affected 2,988 hectares of sugarcane farms, of which 2,931 are in Negros Occidental, SRA records showed.
Board Member David Andrew Sanson, head of SRA’s Task Force on RSSI, said the declaration will facilitate the immediate purchase of pesticides as well as the massive reproduction of fungus and other beneficial organisms that will be proven effective after field testing is completed.
The P5-million fund earmarked by the SRA will also be partly used in the mass reproduction of entomopathogenic fungi to eliminate the RSSI in sugarcane farms.
SRA is studying the multiplication of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana, which are widely used as biological control agents against insects that feed on plants and other agriculture produce. | GB
