Negros Occidental is set to lose 33,000 hectares of sugar production, equivalent to 150,000 metric tons of raw sugar, or about eight percent of national output, if no immediate intervention is taken against the Red-Striped Soft Scale Insect (RSSI) infestation, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona warned on Thursday, July 16.
“Going natural control is not quick, and it is not cheap. My personal experience is that using bio-pesticides costs 4 to 5 times more than using off-the-shelf solutions, and control is not as quick, and our farmers may not have the capacity to cope,” Azcona said.
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Tuesday declared that the Negros Occidental provincial government will “go green” in its campaign against the RSSI, and will not fund the proposed island-wide chemical aerial spraying.
“What the sugar industry needs now, if we want to recover the damage to standing crops, is an immediate response with three months to go before harvest,” Azcona said.
“At the moment and under a state of calamity, we deem it fit to consult with other experts on several and immediate approaches, listening to the appeal from various sectors,” he said.
Azcona said that based on SRA records, a minimum 30 percent infestation, which is growing if not arrested, translates to 67,000 hectares of sugarcane planted in Negros Occidental alone.
Given the experience of those who were hit by RSSI in the northern part of the province last year, these farmers reported a loss of 40 to 50 percent both in tonnage and LKG/TC (sugar yield per ton of cane), he added.
SRA’S HANDS TIED
However, at the moment, SRA’s hands are tied with regard to the direction the Negros Occidental provincial government will take, Azcona said, “as we were never consulted on how they want to address the crisis, both in the short and long term, and only learned about it via the media”.
“It is what it is. We have to respect the statement of Gov. Lacson, who is the chairman of the two RSSI Task Forces in Negros Occidental, and the statement of his adviser Mr. [Rafael] Coscolluela,” he added.
“We trust that the RSSI Task Force Chairman and his adviser have the proper solution to quell the RSSI problem immediately, because I seriously doubt that their purchase of two power sprayers can cover a third of the 200,000 hectares of sugar land,” Azcona said.
If the province still wants to involve the original task force that was set up last year, SRA remains committed to being part of it and will await recommendations from the governor, he said.
“But as part of our commitment to the mayors who approached us, we will directly address their needs, only to a point where they want to be assisted,” Azcona said.
SRA will also start assisting the Negros Oriental side, where they are more receptive to immediate solutions, he added.
BIOLOGICAL, NATURAL CONTROL
Azcona said the SRA has always looked at biological and natural control as the way to go in eradicating, if not minimizing, the RSSI infestation.
In fact, as early as 2023 in Luzon, they started developing biological and natural controls, he said.
In 2025 in the Visayas, they discovered a local fungus that can repel and kill the RSSI, and they have started propagating it since then, Azcona said.
He added that in Bukidnon, they also discovered a different local fungus endemic to their area that seems to have the potential to resist the RSSI, and they are planning to set up laboratories to further test this.
“It is important to try and use local fungi and local parasites, as we have to ensure that we are not bringing in another potential pest from outside,” Azcona said.
“Development has taken the SRA/DA team more than a year, and now we are mass producing and, more importantly, giving them away for free to our farmers, but in limited quantity,” he said.
Right now, the SRA laboratory in La Granja can only produce fungi to cover at most four hectares per day, Azcona said, and while they are building more laboratories, doing so takes time.
“This is why when we sat down with the local chief executives, we asked that they incorporate in their long-term plans the creation of smaller laboratories in their localities, and SRA will provide the technical assistance for the mass production of these fungi,” he said.
He said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel has also directed all laboratories under the Department of Agriculture (DA) to help in the production of fungi against the RSSI.
“In other words, we are not just going to go green; we started the process of doing so since last year. This is, however, for the long-term response,” Azcona said.
LARGE SCALE PREVENTIVE MEASURES
The Confederation of Sugar Producers Association (CONFED), in a press statement signed by Aurelio Valderrama Jr. on June 3, asked the DA and SRA to address the RSSI infestation with “large-scale, pre-emptive measures, such as aerial spraying,” because they know that this problem can no longer be addressed at the individual farm level, Azcona said.
Thus, it was quite surprising when Coscolluela, who is one of their leaders and the governor’s adviser, came out with a different opinion, he said.
The United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) went further by actually looking for large-scale solutions and found one in Davao, where banana and pineapple plantations use aerial spraying, and introduced this idea to chief executives on Negros Island, Azcona said.
At a recent forum organized by UNIFED, the aerial spraying company explained to the mayors that before any spraying occurs, they survey the area, coordinate with village officials to inform the locals of the scheduled spraying, and ensure that the chemicals they use are “systemic” and not harmful to other crops, livestock, or humans, he said.
Another drone company also offered its services to cover areas that cannot be reached by aerial spraying, using the same systemic chemicals that target the RSSI, Azcona said.
“Contrary to what other so-called experts are saying about the use of drones, there are farms that were badly hit last year by RSSI and have now invested in drones, minimizing infestation in their land using the low-and-slow method of spraying,” he said.
SRA, too, has purchased drones and has been actively spraying farms upon the request of farmers, and will continue to do so for those who want to be helped, he added.
Azcona said it saddens him that so-called experts are fast to pounce on SRA and the DA, and yet have nothing to prove on what their responses have been with regard to the RSSI crisis.
“At the very least, they should have given some time to listen to real experts. We have the proper experts from government agencies who oversee any response to pests, environmental concerns, spraying, airplane activities, drone activities, and the like, who may give us the proper expert opinion on planned activities,” he said.
“We cannot just come out publicly with opinions without the proper expert basis, because it is dangerous,” he added.
LGU FUNDING
“Some even went further, accusing SRA of aerial spraying being a money-making venture, not realizing that SRA’s part is to provide funds for the systemic pesticides and fertilizers for free. It will be the local government unit, through their calamity funds, that will shoulder the cost of the operation, and neither is SRA allowed to give out funds directly to farmers as one group suggested,” Azcona said.
“Farmers claim that the sugar industry is the lifeblood of Negros Occidental. Perhaps it will be, years from now, if all those laboratories they promised to put up are in operation, because if there is one fact we learned from other countries with RSSI, it is here to stay and we have to live with it,” Azcona said.*
[sibwp_form id=1]