By Allen Estabillo/PNA
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — South Cotabato’s agriculture personnel have stepped up their monitoring on the emergence of several crop pests due to the onset of the dry spell triggered by the El Niño phenomenon.
Ma. Luisa Santillana, operations head of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAG), said Friday they are closely watching farm areas with standing crops due to possible pest attacks, especially by rodents or rats.
Citing the province’s experience in the previous years, she said rodents moved from the uplands to the lowland areas as the dry weather worsened.
Santillana cited the long dry spell that hit the area in 2015 and 2016, which damaged millions worth of farm crops due to rodent attacks.
“After they (rats) ran out of food in the uplands, they moved and attacked our lowland farms,” she said in an interview with reporters.
She said there were even reports of rodent attacks in households near farm areas and even in urban communities.
Aside from rodents, she said they are monitoring possible attacks by the rice black bug, which is considered as most harmful during the dry season.
As a remedy, Santillana said they have stocked up on rodenticides and prepared their technical teams to immediately assist farmers in case of infestations.
She said they may later tap some farmers who have been trained on integrated pest management and related technologies.
She added that the provincial government also launched awareness campaigns on the possible onslaught of other plant pests and diseases when the dry spell eventually eases.
