The Negros Occidental Biosecurity Task Force launched mobile spraying operations using bio-control fungi to prevent the spread of Red-Striped Soft Scale Insects (RSSI) in the sugarcane fields of Bago City on Wednesday, July 22.
Operations will resume in Bago City before moving to the municipality of Murcia on Thursday, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
RSSI is an invasive, sap-sucking agricultural pest that primarily attacks and destroys sugarcane crops.
The target farms for the team’s spraying belong to agrarian reform beneficiaries and local farmers who submitted monitoring forms and reported infestations through the Task Force’s official Facebook and Messenger accounts, Diaz added.
Diaz said that just 15 days after Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson issued Executive Order No. 26-12 (series of 2026) creating the task force, the provincial government and its stakeholders are already delivering direct assistance and smart solutions to combat the RSSI outbreak.
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