ARMYWORM INFESTATION

THE town of Bautista was placed under the state of calamity last Thursday due to the massive infestation wrought by the tiny armyworms (or “harabas” to farmers) on onion plants.

The state of calamity was declared in a resolution passed during the special session by the municipal council called by Mayor Amadeo Espino.

Municipal Agriculturist Rodrigo Tagulao, said of the 300 hectares in seven barangays planted with onions, 91 percent or 274 hectares were attacked by armyworms.

Onion is the top cash crop of Bautista after rice and damages wrought by armyworms are estimated to reach P75 million.

Tagulao said the calamity fund will be used to buy fertilizers and pesticides to contain the spread of the pests.

Bautista is considered as the worst hit town in Pangasinan as a result of armyworm infestation. The other affected town are Bayambang (100 hectares), Alcala (90 hectares) and Malasiqui (29 hectares.) and all are mulling a possible declaration of state of calamity too.

Armyworms started to attack onion farms at the onset of the cold weather in January.

The Provincial Agriculturist Office has recommended the use of systematic pesticide when the onions are still sprouting from their beds and to adopt crop rotation in order to break the cycle of the pests.

The pests normally hide in grass areas of farm embankments and come out when the farmers begin planting onion.

The armyworms easily multiply during the long dry season after the brief rainy season. The female armyworm lays from 800 to 1,000 eggs in one production cycle and when these all hatch, millions of earthworms can be found in onion fields. (Leonardo Micua)

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