MINDANAO may not be able to contribute to suffice the local demand for sugar as five provinces hosting sugarcane plantations are not harvesting this year in view of widespread infestation.
According to the Mindanao Sustainable Sugarcane Agricultural Development Federation Inc. (Minfed), sugarcane farms were devastated by a pest referred to as red-striped soft-scale insect (RSSI).
In a letter dated August 7, Minfed President Manuel Antonio Zubiri called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to extend emergency financial assistance to small sugarcane farmers in Bukidnon, Cotabato, Sarangani, Davao del Sur and Sultan Kudarat provinces.
Prior to the RSSI infestation in Mindanao, the DSWD rolled out P10,000 emergency cash grants to affected sugarcane farmers with five hectares or less in Negros Occidental province.
As of August 11, the Bukidnon mill district of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) reported that the RSSI infestation had affected roughly 655 hectares across the province known as the country’s second-largest sugar producer.
The affected areas in Bukidnon include 482 hectares in Quezon town, 148 hectares in Kitaotao town, 20 hectares in Valencia City and five hectares in Don Carlos town.
Other infested areas in Mindanao include 800 hectares across Davao del Sur and Sarangani under the Davao mill district, 91 hectares in Cotabato and 89.2 hectares in Sultan Kudarat.
RSSI was first detected in Kitaotao, Bukidnon, in May and initially covered 30 hectares by late June.
In a statement, the SRA said that technical teams and multiagency task forces have already been dispatched to monitor affected provinces for containment measures against the pest.
In Bukidnon, agricultural workers dressed in full protective gear have been spraying chemicals on affected plantations to halt the spread of the infestation.
Sugarcane experts said that the microscopic pest could slash the crop yields of affected farms by up to 50 percent, urging speedy measures to contain the infestation before the November milling season.
