THE Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) reported on Monday, March 19, a three-month crop production losses worth P1.4 million brought by rice black bug (RBB) infestation in Negros Occidental.
Final reports of OPA showed that 47 farmers covering almost 31 hectares of rice farms in La Castellana town were damaged by RBB from December 2017 to February 2018.
Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said the province has distributed metharhizium anisopliae to control RBB population.
It was sourced from the Department of Agriculture-Western Visayas Crop Protection Center.
Masculino said the local government also initiated light trapping operations to contain the pest. They collected about a half sack of RBB.