4,000 farmers suffer losses as pests spread to 16 towns

TACLOBAN CITY—At least 4,000 farmers in the provinces of Northern and Eastern Samar are reeling from thousands of pesos in losses after pests attacked their crops.

The pest infestation spread to nine towns of Northern Samar and seven in Eastern Samar, according to the Eastern Visayas office of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The pests—bacterial leaf bright and brown plant hopper—ravaged a total of 10,291 hectares of rice farms in the two provinces, the DA office said.

U-Nichols Manalo, regional DA chief, said his office sent teams to check the infestation and offer help to farmers.

Manalo said farmers were asked to quickly do two things—drain their fields of water and harvest palay that could still be saved.

Eastern Samar bore the brunt of the infestation. At least 10,057 metric tons of palay planted in 3,935 ha of farms had been ruined. At least 3,607 farmers from seven towns—San Julian, Sulat, Taft, Dolores, Arteche, Oras and Jipadpad—suffered losses.

In Northern Samar, the pests left a trail of devastation in farms in the towns of Palapag, Las Navas, Victoria, Allen, Lavezares, Rosario, San Jose and the provincial capital, Catarman.

At least 375 farmers tilling some 309 ha of land suffered losses when the pests destroyed 234 metric tons of palay.

Brenda Pepito, assistant chief of the regulatory division of the regional DA office, said the pest infestation, however, was “quite minimal” compared with the rice production of the entire Eastern Visayas region.

The losses due to pests in the two Samar provinces, Pepito said, accounted for only 1.91 percent of the region’s total 537,954 metric ton rice harvest.

Manalo said pests and plant diseases often ravaged farms in the Samar provinces because of high humidity, use of nitrogenous fertilizers and indiscriminate use of pesticides that kill even natural predators of the pests.

At least 34,988 ha of land is devoted to rice farming in Northern Samar and 26,737 ha in Eastern Samar.