FARM ENEMY Ismael Tion checks his corn plants for signs of damage as fall armyworms ravage plantations in his village in Claveria, Misamis Oriental. —JIGGER J. JERUSALEM
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misiamis Orietnal, Philippines — The onslaught of fall armyworms in hundreds of hectares of corn plantations in Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental provinces will likely bring down corn production in northern Mindanao this year, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Carlota Madriaga, the DA regional technical director for operations, said that as of June 5, the pest had destroyed 271.45 hectares, or 25 percent of cornfields in the Bukidnon towns of Damulog, Dangcagan, Don Carlos, Impasug-ong, Kadingilan, Kibawe, Kitaotao, Lantapan and Maramag.
Malaybalay, one of the province’s component cities, was also affected, she said.Madriaga attributed the proliferation of fall armyworms, a caterpillar that develops into a moth and which usually attacks a corn plant from its early stage up to its fruit-bearing stage, to the sudden changes in the weather.
The DA received reports of the infestation as early as last year, though the volume was still “negligible” and the damage minimal then.
Response
Madriaga said the agency’s quick response team was monitoring the situation on the ground and would extend assistance to affected farmers.
The government is distributing pesticides and biological control agents in the form of microorganisms mass produced by the DA’s Regional Crop Protection Center to stop armyworms.
The DA personnel were still validating the extent of destruction.
In Misamis Oriental, farmers in Claveria town said they noticed the presence of the armyworms at the start of the cropping season last April.
Cresan Caabay, 39, a farmer from Barangay Ane-i, said he first saw the armyworms in his 2.5-ha corn field two weeks after planting.
“My farm was the first to be hit [in Barangay Ane-i]. I planted corn on April 25 and 14 days later, I saw worms eating up the young corn plants. When I checked again a few days later, the worms had multiplied,” Caabay said, adding that he started spraying his corn fields with insecticide.“It was a good thing I acted early. The worms damaged only 15 to 20 percent of my corn plants,” he said.
His neighbor, Ismael Tion, 65, expected to earn P800,000 from his 10-ha farm devoted to corn. But with the armyworm infestation destroying half of his corn plantation, he said his projected earnings would be cut by half.
Loans
Tion said he already resorted to borrowing capital from a fellow farm owner, who granted him a P300,000 loan at 5 percent monthly interest and payable in four months. He said he would pay his creditor P360,000 during harvest time.“I have to gamble. I have no other choice. No one can lend me that amount,” Tion said.
As of Saturday, armyworms destroyed 5 percent of Claveria’s corn lands. Some 10,000 ha in the town’s 24 barangays had been planted with corn, said Pepe Yecyec, a corn specialist at Claveria municipal agriculture office.
Yecyec urged corn farmers to check their fields for any sign of infestation since armyworms were known to attack at night and start feeding in the middle of the plantation, making it harder for growers to detect their presence early.