SIX towns in Cebu have been found to be positive of fall armyworm infestation already affecting 5.86 hectares of corn fields in the province.
This was confirmed by Dr. Bienvenido Acabal, chief of the Regional Crop Protection Center (RCPC) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Central Visayas, in a forum on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019.
“After we received feedback from the national office that the pest called ‘fall armyworm’ has infested rice and corn fields in Luzon, we conducted our own cross monitoring in the areas all over Central Visayas,” he said in Cebuano.
As of its September 2019 monitoring, the affected towns in Cebu are Sogod, Madridejos, Bantayan, Santander, Samboan, and Ginatilan. The first report of fall armyworm infestation in the country was on June 20, 2019, in Piat, Cagayan.
Acabal then clarified that fall armyworm is different from the commonly called armyworms.
The fall armyworm is an insect pest that can feed on more than 80 crop species and may cause significant yield reduction on major cultivated cereals such as corn, rice, vegetable crops, cotton and legumes, he said.
“We will check back on those reported armyworm infestations. It is possible that it is the fall armyworm. Or it is possible that it could have been a different kind of armyworm,” he said.
Aside from Cebu, seven other provinces in the region have also been affected by the pest. These are Sevilla and Sagbayan in Bohol; Maria, San Juan and Lazi in Siquijor; and Zamboangita and Mabinay in Negros Oriental.
He said the season of Habagat felt over the last months has influenced the flight and occurrence of this kind of pest.
“This kind of pest can cover 100 kilometers in a day. That is why it easily traveled from Malaysia to the Philippines because of Habagat in the previous month. Also because of Habagat, the pests’ flight capacity can reach 500 kilometers,” he said.
As of now, the fall armyworm occurrence in Cebu is at 5.86 out of its total 630 hectares of corn. In Bohol, it is at 2.5 out of the total 104 hectares of corn. In other areas, it is at 58 out of 390 hectares of corn in Negros Oriental and 2.5 out of the 1000.25 hectares in Siquijor.
Although the infestation has not yet reached an “alarming level,” Acabal said he encouraged local farmers and the concerned local government units (LGUs) to be vigilant as crop damage could be avoided through early monitoring of pest presence.
“Overall, it doesn’t have any significant damage. But we advise our farmers to prepare pesticides. In behalf of the Region 7, we also created a Regional Task Force that will include plant quarantine in Cebu and the LGUs,” he said. “We will also be conducting technical briefing on the fall armyworm starting Nov. 26.” (WBS)