Onion farmers affected by ‘harabas’ get relief
THE initial group of 686 onion farmers in Bayambang town affected by harabas or army worms attack on 1,478.247 hectares of onion plantations received almost P1.5-million total cash assistance from the local government unit.
The first batch of assistance for 415 farmers in 15 barangays was distributed on June 11 while the second batch of 271 farmers in 11 barangays was on June 24 with P827,227.50 and P645,175 amount respectively, Municipal Information Officer Resty Odon said.
Thirty more barangays will also get their share from this financial aid.
The farmers received as much as P10,000 each depending on the extent of the damage on their onion farm.
Twenty-percent of the total cash intervention came from the funds of their barangays.
In his State of Municipality Address on June 30 of Mayor Cezar Quiambao, announced that the municipal council passed a resolution on Feb. 3 declaring Bayambang under State of Calamity in its 66 farming barangays due to the outbreak of the armyworm pest.
The resolution acknowledged that the damage affected the livelihood of 1,484 farmers and enabled the local government to avail of its emergency fund to enforce measures to help affected farmers.
To further support the farmers, Quiambao said the Municipal Agriculture Office and the Department of Agriculture-Region I conducted a soil collection activity with the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office for soil analysis, as part of their joint program ‘Fight Armyworm and Save the Soil’ to determine appropriate measures to prevent the farmlands’ deterioration.
The team also studied how to eradicate armyworm infestation in the Integrated Agricultural Laboratory Regional Office in Sta. Barbara town and how to produce biological agents against harabas, including metarhizium, nuclear polyhedrosis virus, and earwigs at the Regional Soils Laboratory. (Eva Visperas)
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