FARM TECH Personnel of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) use drones as they start the spraying of insecticide to control the infestation wrought by the red-striped soft-scale insect in a sugarcane farm in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, last week. —SRA PHOTO
BACOLOD CITY – A Negros Occidental lawmaker is pushing for a “state of calamity” assessment and the immediate formation of a provincial task force to combat a rapidly spreading infestation of the red-striped soft scale Insect (RSSI), which has more than doubled its reach to over 4,800 hectares in less than a week.
“We would like the governor to take the lead because this is not just an agricultural problem after a while, it’s going to become an economic and a social order problem,” Negros Occidental 5th District Rep. Emilio Bernardino L. Yulo said on Friday, June 19.
READ: Pest ravages sugarcane farms in the Visayas
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