Treat bagworms early, MPOB

BAGWORM infestation of oil palm in Banting is threatening the livelihood of smallholders.

They are facing a major threat to their livelihood because of a serious attack on their palm trees due to bagworm infestation. This infestation dries the palm fronds and within a few months, if the infestation is not brought under control, the trees could die. The smallholders depend much on the oil palm for their livelihood and see this infestation as a major threat to their rice bowl.

This bagworm infestation has been around for the past few months but at first many small holders were ignorant and not alert to this problem as they felt that the trees could recover especially when a rainy spell comes. Now when they see the drying effect of the fronds closing in onto the shoots of the tree they realise that the danger is real.

The trees below the age of five could mostly die whereas the older ones face a hard battle to recover, and productivity is bound to fall when there is infestation by bagworms and other pests.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) should have taken proactive steps to prevent the disease from spreading. The MPOB officials placed in every district need to be alert to problems affecting oil palms especially diseases, which if left unchecked in the early stages, can lead to a major disaster.

Unlike estates belonging to big plantation companies that have their own technical teams to assess and deal with the infestations, the smallholders depend much on the MPOB. The MPOB, which has a large staff on its payroll, needs to take the initiative and not wait for complaints from smallholders, who make up a substantial percentage of oil palm growers in the country

As the government agency in charge of the palm oil industry, whose export revenues are close to RM100bil a year, the MPOB needs to be more proactive to help smallholders facing problems they are unable to handle themselves or have no means to do so.

The government allocates a substantial sum to the MPOB annually and as such the official needs to go out of their air-conditioned cubi- cles to deal with the problem as soon as they notice one to ensure that the industry is on a healthy footing. The MPOB’s district officials need to go around the main oil palm growing areas to monitor the situation and take preventive action. With unpredictable weather conditions prevailing now, both old and new infestation by pests could be on the increase.

Whether the growers complain or not, or whether the growers cooperate or not, it is the duty and task of the MPOB to act on the problem when they see one. As soon as they see a problem the district officials need to immediately send a technical team to do the needful such as power spraying, injections or other methods to control the disease.

Sometimes the smallholders are referred to the agriculture department nearby, which is totally illequipped, unlike the MPOB that specialises in oil palm diseases and other relevant areas. The MPOB needs to set up a special hotline to enable smallholders and even estate owners to refer urgent matters as quickly as possible for the MPOB to take action. GEORGE THOMAS Banting