BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan — This town has been declared under a state of calamity as 868.56 hectares of onion plantations in 39 barangays are already ravaged by army worms, resulting in almost PHP5-million losses affecting 812 farmers.
Atty. Raymund Bautista, municipal legal officer, said Wednesday, “The resolution is yet to be signed by Mayor Cezar Quiambao but it is effective retroactively upon signing of the mayor and he intends to sign later today or tomorrow, as he is still in Manila for an official function there. So officially we are under state of calamity”.
The resolution on the state of calamity declaration was passed on Monday by the Sangguniang Bayan (SB).
Lawyer Rajini Sagarino, municipal administrator, said: “Mayor Quiambao met with the SB members before he went to Manila and he was part of the decision to declare state of calamity”.
Meanwhile, he said the total estimated loss incurred by the pest invasion is now almost PHP5 million.
Armyworm is a type of pest, usually brought by butterflies to farmlands at nighttime and breeds in grassy patches, with every female worm laying about 800 to 1,000 eggs especially during cold seasons. These eggs could hatch into a million worms.
Officer-in-charge Artemio Buezon of the Bayambang Municipal Agriculture Office said they have tried fighting the armyworms with different chemical and organic pesticides but their efforts were futile.
“We even tried the organic pesticide, composed of crushed charcoal and chili fruit, but it has little effect,” Buezon said.
Nonetheless, a pesticide called Exalt from Baguio City is now applied in some infested areas and somehow has good effect, he added.
Last year, army worms invaded squash plantations in the villages of Mangabul and San Gabriel 2nd but the infestation did not spread to other barangays.
“This year’s climate is more favorable for the breeding of army worms,” Buezon said.
Meanwhile, with the declaration of state of calamity, the municipal government will allocate funds for helping the affected farmers.
“We will be giving free fertilizers and pesticides that can be used by the farmers in the next cropping season, while we also wait for the aid from the Department of Agriculture,” Buezon said.
Meanwhile, he urged the farmers to plant different varieties of crops in every planting season, to avoid total devastation, in case the main crop’s harvest fails, such as in the case of the onions this season.
Bayambang has a total of 2,300 hectares of onion plantations. (PNA)
