Pests, bacteria attack in Isabela, Cordillera

By Freddie Lazaro and Dexter See

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan/ Bontoc, Mountain Province — While farmers are reeling from crop losses due to the effects of El Niño, pests and bacteria are now tormenting farms in Isabela and Mountain Province.

Isabela Provincial Agriculturist Danilo Tumamao confirmed that rice plantations in the towns of Ramon, San Mateo and Burgos, all in Isabela have been infected with “bacterial leaf streak” or the reddening of the growing rice plant’s leaves.

At present, Tumamao said his office is taking measures to control the spread of the disease-causing bacteria.

“Our farmers have nothing to worry about the rice disease as we are now doing the most effective measures to protect our rice,” Tumamao told but he didn’t elaborate.

For his part, Region 2’s Agriculture Director Andrew Villacorta assured to the farmers that his office has sufficient pesticides to contain the spread of the bacterial disease.

Meanwhile, thousands of farmers in two agricultural towns in the province continue to suffer a setback in their bid to recover from the natural phenomenon after new pests reportedly ravaged their vegetable farms over the past few weeks.

Based on a report from the provincial agriculturist’s office, hundreds of farmers in the eastern town of Paracelis observed the rapid increase in the number of giant snails known locally as “beloloko.”

The giant snails have greatly affected the growth of vegetables in their farms considering that these pests feed on vegetables.

Farmers said they never had the snail problem before but because of the sudden change in weather patterns, unpredictable pests have mushroomed and affected their productivity in vegetable farms and rice paddies.

To get rid of the infestation, experts initially reminded farmers to manually collect the snails, pound them and make compost fertilizer from them which has been described to be rich in protein.
As per studies, the giant snails could be collected in the late afternoon when they usually come out from the farms so that their multiplication could be averted.

The giant snails are considered voracious and can increase easily because they lay eggs in thousands thereby posing a serious threat to the vegetable production of the farmers.

On the other hand, vegetable farmers in Bauko town complained of white fly pests wreaking havoc in their vegetable farms.

The white flies have attacked farms growing potatoes, beans, squash and the other vegetable leaves, leading to their eventual death.

In a bid to control the proliferation of white fly in the vegetable farms, the local agriculture office recommended to the farmers to shift to the organic farming the soonest since the unexpected white fly pest might have developed resistance as a result of the continuous use of chemicals in their vegetable gardens.

Meanwhile, Villacorta confirmed that even rice plantations in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino have also been affected by the bacterial leaf streak.

Villacorta said he has already alerted all DA provincial heads in the Cagayan Valley region to implement the necessary measures to prevent their rice plantations from the attack of plant diseases not only the “bacterial leaf streak” but also armyworms, locust infestation and rice black bug.

Villacorta said that corn crops in the region have been free from any disease.

With the good quality of growing corn plants, Villacorta expected the region to produce this harvest season an estimated one million metric tons of corn, which is more than their 800,000 metric tons target this cropping season.