The DA NIR mobile spraying machine used to combat the RSSI spread.*DA photo
The Sugar Regulatory Administration chief on Monday, June 9, urged local government units with sugar farms badly hit by the highly destructive red-striped soft-scale insects (RSSI) to declare states of emergency to enable the SRA to expedite the delivery of assistance to the affected areas.
“We are requesting the LGUs with sugar farms affected by RSSI to declare a state of emergency or a state of calamity because declaring such will allow the SRA and the DA (Department of Agriculture) to expedite procurement processes and extend services quicker,” SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said.
The procurement process will be faster for the pesticides and chemicals needed, he said in an interview at an RSSI Stakeholders Forum at the Social Hall of the SRA in Bacolod City to discuss measures to prevent the further spread of the pests.
The RSSI has hit 841.70 hectares of sugar farms in 58 barangays in 17 towns and cities in Negros Occidental, two in Iloilo, and one each in Capiz and Negros Oriental, SRA data showed Monday.
The SRA said this has affected 465 farmers.
In Negros Occidental the number of hectares hit in Bago City is 145.23, Victorias City -137.54, Silay City -110.65, Murcia -105.62, Cadiz City – 86.22, Manapla – 75.73, La Carlota City – 44.26, Talisay City – 31, La Castellana – 28.21, EB Magalona – 19.26, Toboso – 19.03, Sagay City – 9.32, Bacolod City – 7, Calatrava – 6, Escalante City – 3, Don Salvador Benedicto – 2.5 , and Calatrava -1.12.
The number of hectares hit in Mabinay, Negros Oriental, is 2.50, Sigma, Capiz, – 1.60; and in Iloilo province – Anilao – .50 and Barotac Nuevo 5.40, the SRA said.
RSSI was first detected in Bacoor Pampanga in 2022, Azcona said, and was eventually controlled.
“We actually never imagined it would get to Negros…but we should avoid finger pointing and work to find a solution together, any idea might be a good idea,” Azcona said.
“We need a very quick response,” he said, adding that Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has assured the all-out support of his department.
RSSI was first detected in Negros Occidental at Hacienda Soledad, Brgy XX, Victorias City, in March 21 this year, the SRA reported.
“We will have to implement controls so that this will not happen in the future…in controlling what is shipped into Negros,” Azcona said.
The SRA believes the RSSI came to Negros Occdental through sugarcane planting materials from Luzon
“I know that the sugar industry is very important for the Negros Island Region and the SRA and the Department of Agriculture (DA) will work with 101 percent effort in finding a solution. This solution entails the cooperation of everyone,” he said.
Negros Island produces 65 percent of the country’s sugar output.
The SRA also reported the recovery in more than 17 hectares of sugarcane farms affected by RSSI in Negros Occidental.
DA Negros Island Region Director Jose Albert Barrogo told the sugar industry stakeholders that they need their inputs in the fight against the RSSI.
He said DA NIR has a mobile spraying machine that is available for affected farms to use.
Barrogo assured the all-out support of the DA in the fight to arrest the spread of the RSSI.*