DA approves P10M budget to fight sugar pest outbreak in W. Visayas
INQUIRER FILES
BACOLOD CITY — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has approved the P10-million budget requested by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to contain the spread of the red-striped soft-scale insects (RSSI), which have infested 546.10 hectares of sugarcane farms in Western Visayas—most of them in Negros Occidental.
“Whatever additional support needed by the SRA and the Negros farmers, we will give it all,” said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., who inspected an RSSI-hit farm in Negros Occidental on June 5.
Laurel said quarantine measures are in place to regulate the movement of sugarcane planting materials.
The SRA suspects that cane points from Luzon may have been the source of the RSSI infestation in Negros.
“The movement should not be allowed without permits, but the country’s coastlines are so wide they can easily be brought in,” Laurel said.
“Now we’re trying to crack down on it. This is not really allowed without permits,” he added.
READ: Insect infestation spreads in Negros Occidental sugarfields
Laurel said the Department of Agriculture’s intelligence and enforcement personnel are investigating the source of the infected cane points.
According to SRA data, the RSSI—which can reduce sugar content by nearly 50 percent—has affected sugar farms in 46 barangays across 13 towns and cities in Negros Occidental, as well as one town each in Negros Oriental, Capiz, and Iloilo.
At least 294 farmers have been affected by the infestation.
SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said the approved P10 million budget will be used to purchase pesticides as an emergency response, particularly for sugar farms owned by agrarian reform beneficiaries.
He said the agency is working to contain the spread of the RSSI to prevent a potential sugar supply shortage.
“We have to stop the infestation because majority of the sugar supply is from Negros. We have about 250,000 hectares planted to sugarcane,” he said.
On June 2, the SRA said it was seeking “emergency powers” to regulate the movement of planting materials and facilitate the immediate purchase of pesticides to curb the spread of the RSSI.
The SRA also appealed for assistance from other government agencies to help contain the infestation in Negros, which produces over 60 percent of the country’s sugar.
The RSSI was first detected in northern Negros Occidental in late March and was declared an infestation on May 22 after spreading to more than 87 hectares./mcm
