YESTERDAY, I had a feedback from Maria Arleen Ogan, my colleague in the organic movement, on the column “Pay the pipers of creation.” She asked what the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist can do beyond distributing rat poisons in the municipality of Isabela to stem the rodent infestation on farms.
Farmers, with the help of local governments, can fight back the invasion.
Tillers can defeat the rats. At least, for now. They can win battles. But can farmers win the war? Interesting question.
rCan Negrense society restore forests that host predator animals that prey on animal herbivores such as rats in search food that can no longer be found in the forests?
From Mindanao to Negros, our provincial agriculturists have expressed their concern that the rodent plague is bound to worsen El Niño intensifies.
“This is mainly due to the continuing dry spell. The rats have been coming out and invading our farmlands as their usual food sources have become scarce,” said Justina Navarrete, acting head of the South Cotabato agriculturist’s office, adding that there have been reports of the rodents attacking fruit trees and even coconuts.
“Massive infestation could be attributed to climate change and the onset of (the) El Nino phenomenon,” said Cotabato provincial agriculture officer Eliseo Mangliwan. Then there are reports of black bug and army worm infestation, the same warning that our local OPA has warned.
Can rodenticides stop the rats in their tracks? The Mindanao provincial agriculturists noted that although they have distributed zinc phosphate, a rodenticide, to affected farmers, some of the wily rats simply see, smell then ignore the zinc phosphate the farmers placed in rice and corn fields. It seems the rodents have learned to evade the rodenticide from last year’s infestation.
Pest infestations are just symptoms. These manifestations come out due to warmer temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, higher sea levels and more extreme weather events such as flooding will become more frequent and will impact pest populations.
According to the UK-based Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), temperature is the major factor influencing the reproductive potential of rodents and that this reproductive potential is increased during the warmer months or during rainy seasons.
Floods may cause rodents to be displaced from their habitats and as a result, bring them into even closer contact with humans, increasing the likelihood of disease transmission. Flooding has been associated with increases in the incidence of Leptospirosis.
The war on rats and other pests are just tactical battles. The real enemy is climate change if we are to put a great defense against pest invasions.
(bqsanc@yahoomail.com)