08/06/2024
Invasion of alien worms devastates farms in Agusan del Sur
By Erwin M. Mascariñas
BUTUAN CITY – Farmers in the province of Agusan del Sur are fighting a losing battle against what they consider alien worms, a new invasive species not previously seen in the region as it has continuously plagued hundreds of planted corn plants spreading faster than interventions could be made.
“I’m 61 years old, and I’ve been a farmer my entire life, we’ve never seen anything like this, this is the first time we’ve experienced this kind of pest and how fast it has ravaged our corn crops,” said Robin Nowhere, a farmer in Purok 5, Barangay San Nicolas in the town of Talacogon.
Nowhere added that even if he only planted corn in a small portion of their farm, their expense from plowing and preparing the land, the seedlings, planting, and fertilizers has increased because of how much they have paid for in spraying of pesticides.
“We’ve already used different types just to make it work, but they just keep on producing more and it has devastated the middle part of the farm to the point that there is almost nothing left. Last February, I lost more than 10,000 pesos after the flood waters swept through our farm, we hoped that this cropping season we would be able to recover from that loss and also pay some of our debts but I never expected the kind of problem, this time I estimate our loss to be nearly 20,000 because of the expensive pesticides,” said Nowhere.
Based on the May 27 damage assessment report from the Agusan del Sur Provincial Agriculture and Veterinary Office, the towns of Bunawan, Esperanza, Loreto, Trento, Lapaz, Sta Josefa, Talacogon, San Luis, and Bayugan City have been affected by the infestation brought by the Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), a voracious invasive species from eastern and central North and South America that first appeared in the province of Cagayan in 2019.
The Fall armyworm better known as FAW is the larval stage of a Grey-brown moth, an adult moth that is usually 1 1⁄4 to 1 1⁄2 inches from wing tip to wing tip, with a brown or gray forewing, and a white hindwing.
Armando G. Valiente, Provincial Agriculturist of Agusan del Sur stated that this is the first time the province has experienced such kind of infestation on their corn crops which has already affected around 2,427 farmers with a total land area of 3,963 hectares with a total value of Php 56,451,692.00 and is feared to rise as the area affected is still growing.
“The reports from the field started coming in March, we then dispatched our teams to verify the situation as there were initially only the towns of Esperanza and Loreto that were affected, by April the FAW had already spread to more towns affecting several barangays, most of the affected corn are on their vegetative stage,” said Valiente.
The hardest-hit towns are La Paz and Esperanza, which were partly submerged during the flooding that hit the province in February 2024, according to the initial assessment report, 918 farmers from 12 barangay in La Paz were affected with an area of 1435.10 hectares with an estimated value of Php 24,330,350.70.
This was followed by the town of Esperanza, 417 farmers from 16 barangays covering a farm area of 927.48 hectares of planted corn with an estimated value of Php 14,700,093.75.
Ana Marie Plaza, Officer-in-Charge, Regional Crop Protection Center (RCPC) of the Department of Agriculture Caraga Region pointed out that they have monitored the FAW in the region in 2020. Still, this cropping season's infestation is unprecedented compared to the previous years.
“In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, we’ve started monitoring the presence of FAW in our corn crops in Caraga, from 2021 until 2023, the number of infected corn plants has been very minimal that it did not even show that much dint in our farmer’s yield. But we’re surprised it spiked beyond our expectation on this year’s cropping,” said Plaza.
Plaza pointed out that the sudden rise in the infestation of FAW in Agusan del Sur might have something to do with the abrupt change in the weather pattern with the onset of warmer temperatures which increased from March to May.
“We’ve noticed that most of the infected farms and the towns affected by the FAW this year are those same areas that were flooding back in February, so from the straight two months of rain and flood, after it ended, by mid-March we had the rise in temperature and the intense heat resulting to dry spell by March, these are favorable conditions for the worm to multiply and infect more farms,” said Plaza.
Mario Cabahug, 66 years old farmer from Purok 8, Barangay Nato, in the town of Esperanza, stated that while still recovering after the massive damages to their agriculture area from the flood waters that submerged their farmland in February this year, they fear that the worst is yet to come as the intense heat combined with the emergence of an invasive worm species will further plummet their hopes of recovery.
Cabahug, a farmer since he was a boy expressed his helplessness as he faced the rising crisis on his small farm in, Agusan del Sur province.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life, I’ve hoped that after the massive flood that swept this land, I could recover from whatever I’ve lost but just as the flood waters receded from the constant heavy rains almost immediately the intense heat killed what little portion of vegetables I’ve planted, and the only hope I had was on the corn, but now they are also dying,” said Cabahug.
“We are fighting two fronts, two enemies first from the flooding now this pest, it’s a losing battle,” Cabahug added, “the damage is massive, usually in a hectare we will harvest 120 sacks of corn but now I doubt that we will even reach 50% that can be harvested, our corn is still growing yet amid all our efforts like spraying pesticides, and even using different brands just to find something that will be effective, the worms continue to wreak havoc on our crops.”
While field validation is still being made, preliminary data from the RCPC of DA Caraga Region stated in an initial report that a total of 770 farmers had been affected by the FAW infestation in the region damaging around 1378.65 hectares of agricultural land area in Agusan del Sur, and has already spread to areas in Agusan del Norte, Butuan City and in the municipality of Cagdianao in the Dinagat Island province.
RCPC has intensified its information drive campaign to educate the farmers on how to fight the growing infestation better using biological control agents (BCA).
While the onset of the rainy season has already started, the Caraga Region still experiences warm temperatures authorities are concerned that the FAW infestation will continue to spread and infect more areas throughout the region. (TMN)
https://mindanawnews.com/nag-unang-balita/invasion-of-alien-worms-devastates-farms-in-agusan-del-sur/
