The destructive red-striped soft scale insects (RSSI) that hit sugar farms in northern Negros Occidental have also invaded three new areas in the southern part of the province, the Sugar Regulatory Administration chief said Friday, May 23.
The RSSI that can reduce sugar content by almost 50 percent were also detected in sugar farms in Ma-ao in Bago City, La Castellana and La Carlota City on Thursday, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona told DIGICAST NEGROS.
The highly damaging insects were earlier detected in sugarcane farms in Murcia, Bacolod City, Silay City, EB Magalona, Victorias City, Cadiz City and Toboso, he said.
The pests have now hit six cities and four towns, Azcona said.
The SRA has created a task force headed by SRA Board Member David Andrew Sanson to control the infestation and seek quarantine measures from the Department of Agriculture, Azcona said earlier.
Sugar farmers have to be “more vigilant” where they purchase their cane points as the infestation is suspected to have been brought to Negros from Luzon where an RSSI infestation has happened before and is still present in some farms, Sanson said earlier.
Sanson appealed to farmers to “stop transporting planting materials from Luzon and other infected areas because it has been observed that transmittal of this disease came from infected cane points.”*