BATTLING PESTS Drones are used to spray insecticides over a sugar plantation infested with red-striped soft-scale insects at Barangay Santa Rosa in Murcia, Negros Occidental. —PHOTO COURTESY OF SUGAR REGULATORY ADMINISTRATION
BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — Provincial legislators in Negros Occidental on Tuesday approved a measure declaring the province under a state of calamity, giving Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson greater resources at his disposal to fight a pest that has already ravaged a vast expanse of sugarcane farms.
The measure was in response to Resolution No. 5 of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), which recommended the declaration to allow the governor to use quick response funds to battle the red-striped soft-scale insects (RSSI), Board Member Marxlen de la Cruz said.
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The PDRRMC cited a situational report from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) showing that the RSSI infestation has reached a critical level.FEATURED STORIES
