Regions warned to take steps vs farmland pests

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued a pest warning to its regional offices for the end of the year, notifying its officials to take precautions for seasonal infestations expected to hit farmland.

In an Oct. 14 memorandum uploaded on the Web site of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), the Officer- in- Charge of the agency, Vivencio R. Mamaril, said directors in 15 regions “to closely monitor the listed areas for possible infestations” expected every last quarter.

The bureau recommended that areas that may be affected by the possible infestation to prepare field sanitation measures, opt for more resistant rice varieties, plow fields immediately after harvest, among other advisories.

The bureau, an agency of the Agriculture department, warned that the top four pests for this time of the year are stem borer insects, which are expected to affect 17 sites nationwide; bacterial leaf blight (12 sites) rodents (seven sites), and rice black bugs (four sites).

The warning is based on infestation data submitted by regions from 1993 to 2015.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol earlier said that the DA is projecting a bumper corn harvest towards the end of the year which will mainly drive “positive growth for this year’s farm output notwithstanding the agricultural damage recorded due to the impact of the severest El Niño to hit the country this year.” —