Brontispa infestation alarming
By Roberto C. Dejon
ORMOC CITY – The infestation of Brontispa longissima (commonly known coconut leaf beetle) in many barangays of the city has become bigger and some areas are on alarming stage, City Agriculture Service Office has said.
CASO technicians Edgar Apas and Juliet Cruz during an actual monitoring in Brgy. Monterico, disclosed that almost 60 percent of the barangays in the city has Brontispa longissima infestation. They said that last year they reported to city Mayor Eric C. Codilla and Councilor Sotero Pepito, chair committee on agriculture, that 17 barangays in the city have already had an 80 percent infestation of the coconut leaf beetle.
The monitoring in Brgy. Monterico had raised the number to 18 because coconut pest in said barangay is huge that some of the newly grown coconuts are already dead.
Pepito in an interview yesterday confirmed the presence of Brontispa disease to coconut and palm trees that belong to the same specie. But he said even if it is already huge he still considered the status as tolerable knowing that the disease is curable.
He said that he has emphasized this to every interviews that if they noticed something is happening to the coconut trees they should immediately inform the CASO or his office because “We have people that could address the problem.”
Both Councilor Pepito and the CASO technicians are one in saying that even if the problem is considered as alarming its still curable, coconut should inform their office immediately.
Pepito for his part said that the farmers should be vigilant enough to monitor the situation and not wait for the CASO technicians to conduct monitoring.
He explained that if farmers delegate the monitoring of their coconut trees to CASO technicians then that would only worsen the situation. Coconut industry in the city according to Councilor Pepito is not as big as rice, corn, and sugar but he said there are still a lot of people who are dependent on the coconut.
The 17 barangays affected were San Pablo, Dayhagan, Juaton, Concepcion, Cagbuhangin, San Jose, Valencia, Cabulihan, Catmon, Luna, Dolores, Milagro, Airport, Salvacion, Maticaa, Don Potenciano Larrazabal, Manlilinao, and Monterico.
Other barangays monitored of the presence brontispa are Leondoni, Mas-in, R.M. Tan, Curva, Margen Liloan, Libertad, Maticaa, Kadauhan, Green Valley, San Vicente, Sto Nino, Labrador, Sabang Bao and San Jose.
Pepito disclosed that it is the second wave of the infestation of the disease in two years which was first noticed in Sitio Kanmingming, Brgy. Valencia but it was immediately controlled because it was immediately reported and acted upon.
He lamented that the Philippine Coconut Authority which is tasked to solve this problem seemed to sleep on the problem.
The council according to Councilor Pepito is set to appropriate amount for the procurement of pesticides.
The Brontispa longgissima usually attack the young leaves located in the crown of the coconut tree.
how about in so. leyte? what’s the pca’s reports? i hope we can also get help from Fiber Industry on our bunchy top and other abaca diseases.