Solon urges: Prioritize integrated pest management
The country would either adapt or see entire crop sectors wiped out, as pests would continue to grow stronger in this changing global climate
Daily TribuneThe country would either adapt or see entire crop sectors wiped out, as pests would continue to grow stronger in this changing global climate
Albay Representative Joey Salceda is urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to promote integrated pest management as a departmental priority program amid reports of a fresh onion shortage and the ongoing armyworm infestation in North Luzon's onion farms.
Salceda, who also chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, stressed that integrated pest management would be the new normal in climate change.
"As temperatures rise and climate conditions change, some pests will breed faster and become more resistant. Agriculturists in North Luzon are already pointing out that pests like armyworms are becoming stronger every season because of, not despite, pesticides," Salceda said.
He added that multi-cropping, biological control, habitat change, alteration of cultural methods and resistant cultivars are a few approaches used in integrated pest management to manage and avoid infestation.
The lawmaker also recommended that every province should have at least one agricultural school that teaches integrated pest management and ensures that all municipal agriculturists are educated and capable of eventually training farmers in integrated pest management.
"The country would either adapt or see entire crop sectors wiped out, as pests would continue to grow stronger in this changing global climate," Salceda said.
Armyworm infestations have continued to ravage onion plantations in regions like Pangasinan. Up to 212 hectares of onion farms suffered damage in 2021 due to infestations. Damage in 2016, meanwhile, resulted in up to 1000 hectares.
Crop-damaging pests, according to scientists, will only become more harmful as climate change brings hotter weather and more unseasonable rainfall.
