Brontispa infestation brought to non-damaging level
PALO, Leyte — Infestation of brontispa in the region’s coconut farms has been brought to non-damaging level as it was reduced from over 240,000 three years ago to only 2,000 trees infected this month, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) regional office here reported.
PCA regional manager Edilberto Nierva admitted that they cannot completely eradicate the coconut pest infestation considering that it is “governed by nature.”
“Even if we stepped up our treatment activities, there are still reports from farmers that it is spreading to new farms,” he told Leyte Samar Daily Express.
“There are instances of infestation but it is not as worse as in the past. Climate change has something to do with this because harmful insects migrate to other agricultural plantations,” Nierva said. New affected farms are in Eastern Samar towns and in Bato, Leyte.
He explained that it’s hard to stop the spread of the beetle even if the government has intensified its transport regulation of ornamental palms considering that trucks and buses accidentally carry this tiny pest to different areas.
Based on the latest report of PCA, 7,000 trees were reportedly infested but they were able to contain the pest in 5,000 trees last month.
“Our studies show that there is a recurrence of 16% among treated trees. Technical workers from local government units were sent to check treated trees,” he added.
Since the national government launched containment activities, the PCA has spent P700,000. There are also allocations from the Department of Agriculture and local government units (LGUs).
“Implementation of containment program is highly dependent to the allotment of budget from the national government,” he added.
It can be recalled that from 2005 to 2008, over 200,000 coconut trees mostly in Northern Samar were hit by the infestation. It spread to Samar, Eastern Samar, Tacloban City, and Leyte until this year.
“The provinces of Northern Samar and Samar are now free from infestations and farmers have already recovered from losses. In other areas, the infestation was easily controlled since we’re able to immediately detect the presence of brontispa,” the PCA official explained.
As part of its eradication effort, the PCA has called on farmers to immediately report infestation to their office for them to undertake appropriate actions.
Brontispa is an invasive pest introduced to the country, presumably in early 2004 via importation of ornamental palms. It caused great damage to seedlings and mature coconut trees and ornamental palms thereby killing the young spears and the whole tree.
The first infestation in the region was observed in Allen, Northern Samar in 2006. Ornamental-palm trade is also being looked at as the most probable cause of the pest’s transfer to the island and it spreads to the eastern part of Samar. (sarwell q. meniano)
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