The Office of the Provincial Agriculturist of Negros Occidental is not only on alert against the infestation of army worms but also against black bugs, following their attack on several areas of Panay.

Provincial Agriculturist Igmedio Tabianan said Saturday that his office has not yet received any reports of black bug infestation in Negros Occidental.

Tabianan said summer is the breeding season of black bugs that are common in rain-fed and irrigated wetland environments and prefer continuously cropped irrigated rice areas and poorly drained fields.

He said they will orient farmers on how to keep black bugs away from the rice fields, like turning on light bulbs to attract these pests and spraying with biological agents to control their population.

Black bugs have infested Brgy. Bito-on in Jaro, Iloilo City and has also delayed several sporting events of the Palarong Pambansa in Tagum, Davao Del Norte.

Meanwhile, OPA has only 5 to 10 remaining flying hours for cloud seeding and is still waiting for the release of P2.4 million additional funds from the Bureau of Soils and Water management to finance the operation.

However, Tabianan said they are still evaluating the amount of rain being experienced by Negros Occidental before they can decide to continue with the cloud seeding operations once the remaining flight hours have been consumed.

Total losses in agricultural crops in Negros Occidental are pegged at P18 million, OPA records show.

The cities of Cadiz, Escalante, Sagay and San Carlos, and in the towns of Calatrava and Toboso have been badly affected by the dry spell in northern Negros Occidental, while agricultural products from Himamaylan City to Hinoba-an have gone dry, too, due to El-Niño.*APN

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