Around a thousand farmers in Nueva Ecija, the Philippines, have been affected by an army worm attack on their onion farms that started in February. Farmers remove the worms by hand; the process is called “pangunguto” (lice picking), and is one of the steps recommended by government agriculturists.
The infestation has almost doubled the cost of farm inputs this season. Under normal conditions, farmers spend from P80,000 to P100,000 worth of inputs for each hectare of onion farms.
As of March 22, 389 hectares of onion farms had been destroyed by army worms, while 358 ha were damaged, according to Serafin Santos, provincial agriculturist. He said farmers were discouraged from using too much chemical in fighting the worms.
State of calamity
Mayor Leonido de Guzman Jr. said a state of calamity had been declared in the town covering infested farms. The declaration allows the municipal government to access funds for farms which suffered P125,533,750 in damage, he said. De Guzman also said the impact of the worm attacks does not warrant importation to make up for the lost onion supply and asked importers not to flood the market.
(1 Philippine Peso=0.022 USD)
Source - freshplaza.com
