Coconut trees under threat
STA. BARBARA–A plague is threatening the province’s coconut trees, dubbed as the “tree of life”.
Coconut leaf beetle (Brontispa longissima), a pest that can readily kill precious coconut trees, has infected more than 1,000 hectares of coconut tree plantations in Urdaneta City, Labrador and Sual, according to the Philippine Coconut Authority’s (PCA) provincial office here.
Eleazar Parohinog, PCA’s provincial coconut development manager, told The PUNCH that they are now preparing means to address the problem.
PCA officials will soon meet with coconut tree owners this week to teach them counter measures to control further spread of the pest.
Initial treatments undertaken in Urdaneta City showed signs of recovery among the infested trees.
Parohinog said the treatment cost is very affordable even as he called on a concerted effort between the coconut tree owners and government officials.
Parohinog said a composite team that examined the coconut trees in one resort in Labrador, which has about 100 infested coconut trees, found that all the imported palm trees in the place were also affected.
The team suspects that the leaf beetle originated from the palm trees.
The bugs consume the juice of the leaves, leaving them dry and looking burnt.
Parohinog said his office wants to immediately control the pest before it spreads to the western part of Pangasinan where bulk of the coconut trees in the province are planted.
Pangasinan has more than 10,000 hectares of land planted to more than one million coconut trees, making it one of the top provinces in the coconut industry within Northern and Central Luzon.
An additional 40,000 to 50,000 hectares have been identified as potential area for coconut planting. #
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