Mindanao sugar planters seek aid as pest attack widens

FIELD SITUATION Sugarcane plantations in Negros Occidental province, like this in Binalbagan town, are ravaged by the red-striped soft-scale insects, with farmers and local officials reporting that the infestation has reached vegetable farms and cornfields. —PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SUGAR REGULATORY ADMINISTRATION

VALENCIA CITY—A group of sugarcane planters in Mindanao has asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to extend emergency financial assistance to sugarcane farmers whose farms were devastated by the red-striped soft-scale insect (RSSI), which has infested at least five provinces in Mindanao.

Manuel Antonio Zubiri, president of Mindanao Sustainable Sugarcane Agricultural Development Federation Inc. (Minfed), called on Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian to extend the agency’s emergency cash transfer program to small sugarcane growers affected by the pest.

The RSSI infestation has affected sugarcane farms in Bukidnon, Cotabato, Sarangani, Davao del Sur and Sultan Kudarat provinces.

Zubiri’s appeal, through a letter dated Aug. 7, comes after the DSWD rolled out P10,000 emergency cash grants to affected sugarcane farmers holding 5 hectares (ha) or less in Negros Occidental province.

As of Aug. 11, the Bukidnon mill district of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) reported that the RSSI infestation had affected about 655 ha across the province, with 374.616 ha treated so far.

The affected areas in Bukidnon, the country’s second-largest sugar producer, include 482 ha in Quezon town, 148 ha in Kitaotao town, 20 ha in Valencia City and 5 ha in Don Carlos town

Other confirmed areas in Mindanao include 800 ha across Davao del Sur and Sarangani under the Davao mill district, 91 ha in Cotabato and 89.2 ha in Sultan Kudarat, SRA data showed earlier.

RSSI (Pulvinaria tenuivalvata) was first detected in Kitaotao, Bukidnon, in May and initially covered 30 ha by late June.

Johnny Agsaoay Jr., SRA Bukidnon mill district officer, said that technical teams and multiagency task forces are monitoring affected provinces for the deployment of containment measures against the pest.

In Bukidnon, agricultural workers dressed in full protective gear have been spraying chemicals on affected plantations to halt the spread of the infestation.

Sugarcane experts said that the microscopic pest could slash the crop yields of affected farms by up to 50 percent, urging speedy measures to contain the infestation before the November milling season.

To address the growing crisis, Minfed proposed that the DSWD partner with the SRA and local mill district offices to validate eligible beneficiaries using the same criteria applied in Negros Occidental.