The Department of Agriculture is stepping up its battle against the destructive red-striped soft scale insect (RSSI), ordering the mass production of a naturally occurring fungus that can suppress the pest before it inflicts more serious damage on the country’s sugar industry.
Speaking at the 40th anniversary celebration of the Sugar Regulatory Administration on Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. directed the agency to accelerate the production of biological control agents and pledged additional funding to contain the outbreak, a DA press release said.
“I told SRA to address the RSSI infestation head on. We have the technology and the capability to produce the biocontrol agent to do so,” Tiu Laurel said. “We must have enough biocontrol agents to cover at least 75,000 hectares.”
The order reflects growing concern over the rapid spread of the sap-sucking pest, which can slash the sugar content of affected cane by as much as half, significantly reducing farm productivity and farmers’ incomes.
SRA has received claims that areas infested in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental exceed 30 percent of the planted area, and the SRA have already verified about 4,600 hectares.
Reports from industry sources indicate the pest may have spread further to Iloilo, Capiz and Leyte, and even Mindanao, raising fears that the affected area could expand sharply if left unchecked.
RSSI was first detected in the Philippines in 2022 and has since emerged as one of the most serious biological threats to the sugar sector. The insect feeds on plant sap, weakening cane growth while encouraging the development of sooty mold that further reduces photosynthesis and yields.
The SRA heads the Inter-agency RSSI Task Force established in 2025, and efforts to control the pest, and to educate farmers on how to incorporate RSSI controls into the growing protocol have been ongoing since 2025.
The SRA currently has about P8 million allocated for RSSI mitigation, but Tiu Laurel said additional resources will be made available not only for expanding fungus production but also for developing artificial intelligence-based tools for early pest detection and monitoring.
The Agriculture chief also offered the laboratories of the Bureau of Plant Industry and other DA facilities to speed up the production of biocontrol agents.
The move highlights a broader shift toward science-based and environmentally sustainable pest management as the government seeks to protect domestic sugar output, strengthen industry resilience and safeguard the country’s long-term sugar self-sufficiency goals.*
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