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Wednesday, September 10, 2003
PAO alerts field men v. army worm attacks
By Maricar Aranas
THE Negros Oriental Provincial Agriculturist's Office (PAO) alerted its rice technicians throughout Negros Oriental to monitor all rice farms after army worms attacked 120 hectares of rice lands in at least three villages in Canlaon City.
Acting Provincial Agriculturist Gregorio Paltinca confirmed the attacks but said the pestilence is normal and is now under control.
The PAO said he has sent two bottles of pesticide chemicals to Canlaon City to be used to spray the affected areas.
Paltinca said the presence of the pests is normal under the prevailing weather condition but that farmers must take precaution to protect their crops against any devastation.
He said he will meet with all field technicians in his office on Friday to assess the situation and to identify areas vulnerable to the army worm attacks.
Vicente Lanohan, provincial fertilizer and pesticide chief, identified the affected villages in Canlaon City as Panubigan, Binalbagan, and Masulog.
Lanohan said the army worm attacks have affected 85 farmers tilling the 120-hectare area awarded to them through a certificate of land ownership by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
The pest control officer said he has advised Canlaon City agriculturist Alejandro Ruiz to request emergency help from the Office of the City to contain the pestilence.
An army worm is a hatchling of the diamond back-spotted moth laid in the leaf sheath of the young rice plant.
It feeds by eating an inch of the tender plant at night and if allowed to mature will completely destroy the grain.
Meanwhile Alvin Blaza, chief of the crop division of the provincial agriculturist's office, denied reports of black bugs infestation in rice lands in Negros Oriental.
laza said the infestation was detected in the municipality of Sta. Catalina last year and has been controlled since then.
Black bug infestation, he said, occurs every five years only and came to Negros Oriental by way of rice hay that accompanied cattle shipment from Palawan and certain parts of Mindanao.
(September 10, 2003 issue)
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