FROM BAYAWAN TO GUIHULNGAN:
Coconut infestation
spreading – PCA

The “brontispa” coconut leaf beetle infestation is spreading to other areas, from Bayawan City, and has already affected 22,000 coconut trees in Negros Oriental, Brendan Trasmonte, Philippine Coconut Authority development manager, said recently.

“Brontispa longissima” has been monitored to be spreading, particularly from Bayawan, to the towns of Basay, Siaton, and Guihulngan City, Trasmonte added.

Brontispa feeds on young leaves and damages seedlings and mature coconut palms. The insect belongs to Coleoptera and Chrysomelidae family, like a number of beetle species.

SMEDC supports
bamboo plantation

The Provincial Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council in Negros Oriental is urging farmers in the province to start planting bamboos, not only for business opportunities, but to lessen disaster risks.

This was after Herbie Teodoro, senior project director of the Philippine Bamboo Foundation Inc. Visayas Region, said in a recent meeting with the SMEDC, that some 400,000 bamboo propagules are now being produced in a Dauin nursery, and in the garden centers in Bayawan City and Vallehermoso town, in Negros Oriental.

The province has bamboo varieties that are available and abundant and these plants grow fast and can be harvested in three years, Teodoro said.

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