DA intensifies sugar pest fight, rolls out new varieties

The Department of Agriculture and Sugar Regulatory Administration are intensifying efforts to contain the red-striped soft scale insect, or RSSI, using drones, chemical spraying, emergency cash assistance, biological controls, and new high-yielding sugarcane varieties as the invasive pest threatens farms, particularly in Negros Island and Western Visayas.

The government response carries implications beyond damaged fields because unchecked infestation could cut farmers’ incomes, reduce cane deliveries to sugar mills, constrain domestic sugar production, and increase the risk of supply disruptions that could eventually affect consumer prices.

As of July 28, the DA had earmarked PHP 35 million for chemicals and drone operations covering 25,000 hectares.

The department has also been preparing to expand treatment to 40,000 to 45,000 hectares, or more, if the infestation worsens.

RSSI is an invasive, sap-sucking pest that damages sugarcane by feeding on plant sap and encouraging the growth of black sooty mold.

The mold coats sugarcane leaves, blocks sunlight, disrupts photosynthesis, and stunts plant growth, potentially reducing both cane yield and sugar content by as much as 50%.

Of the 421,606 hectares planted to sugarcane this crop year, 93,898 hectares have been affected by RSSI.

Nearly 92,295 hectares of the affected area are in the Visayas, particularly Negros Island and Western Visayas.

More than 12,700 farmers in the affected areas need various forms of aid and assistance to contain the infestation.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has also sought assistance from other government agencies, including the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The DA and DSWD have provided PHP 10,000 in cash assistance to each validated farmer as immediate relief.

More than 12,300 farmers have already been validated for assistance.

The DA has sought additional funding to provide cash aid to as many as 20,000 beneficiaries.

“This is about protecting an industry that supports thousands of farmers, workers, and their families… Every hectare we save means protecting livelihoods, preserving sugar production, and keeping one of the country’s most important agricultural industries strong. We intend to act quickly, decisively, and in close partnership with local governments,” Tiu Laurel said.

The DA said Universal Leaf Philippines has been lending drones for aerial spraying.

The Philippine Air Force has provided a C-130 aircraft to transport chemicals for the containment campaign.

Because drones must fly lower over sugarcane fields for maximum spraying effectiveness, daily coverage in Negros Island reaches about 300 hectares, according to the DA.

Spray cannon trucks from DA regional offices have also been redeployed to complement drone and backpack spraying operations.

Chemical treatment remains the fastest available option for controlling RSSI, but authorities are simultaneously developing biological approaches intended to provide a longer-term defense against the pest.

The SRA has developed biological control agents using beneficial fungi, although existing production capacity can treat only about four hectares a day.

The DA said it is relying on chemical spraying for the immediate response while working with research institutions to expand mass production of biological control agents nationwide.

“The challenge before us is immediate, but so is our resolve… We are responding to today’s outbreak while investing in solutions that will strengthen the sugar industry’s resilience for years to come,” Tiu Laurel added.

With RSSI likely to become a recurring threat, the DA and SRA are preparing memorandum of agreement templates that would allow funds to be downloaded directly to local government units and qualified cooperatives.

The mechanism is intended to allow local governments and cooperatives to procure chemicals and supplies without lengthy bidding procedures, allowing communities to act faster when infestations emerge.

The SRA has committed to providing stakeholders with geotagged infestation data, technical assistance, and validated estimates of affected areas to guide local interventions.

Municipalities, state universities, sugar mills, and farmers’ cooperatives are also being encouraged to establish laboratories capable of producing biological control agents.

The SRA is prepared to provide laboratory designs, technical training, and mother cultures so local facilities can build stocks of biological controls before future outbreaks.

Tiu Laurel earlier directed all available DA laboratories to support the production effort.

More laboratories are also planned at the municipal, sugar mill, and farmer-group levels through the DA and SRA to help ensure the ready availability of anti-RSSI biocontrol fungi.

The DA is also distributing beneficial microorganisms and organic fertilizer for free as part of efforts to reduce farmers’ production expenses.

The SRA, meanwhile, conducts training to help farmers manage the pest threat while improving broader farm management practices.

The government’s longer-term productivity push also includes the introduction of three high-yielding sugarcane varieties intended to help farmers produce more cane per hectare.

Tiu Laurel and SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona led the unveiling of PHIL 2015-0867, PHIL 2015-0953, and PHIL 2015-0445 during the opening of the 72nd Philippine Sugar Technologists Association Annual National Convention in Cebu City.

Azcona said the SRA intends to begin with micropropagation to multiply planting materials before distributing the varieties to farmers.

“within six months, we can release the new varieties, prioritizing small farmers and those who are part of block farms.”

PHIL 2015-0867 recorded an average yield across four locations of 1.91 LKg per ton cane and 117.61 tons cane per hectare.

The variety has a reported yield potential of 2.00 LKg per ton cane and 164.29 tons cane per hectare.

PHIL 2015-0953 posted an average yield of 1.84 LKg per ton cane and 118.70 tons cane per hectare.

Its yield potential reached 2.02 LKg per ton cane and 167 tons cane per hectare.

The information provided for the third variety identifies it as PHIL 2015-0455 in the yield results, while the variety unveiled at the convention was identified as PHIL 2015-0445.

PHIL 2015-0455 was reported to have an average yield of 1.81 LKg per ton cane and 109.99 tons cane per hectare.

Its yield potential was reported at 2.08 LKg per ton cane and 149.91 tons cane per hectare.

The three new varieties performed best in the Bais, Sonedco, and Sagay mill districts and significantly outyielded results from the Victorias Milling Company mill district.

One location recorded a yield of 84.524 LKg per hectare.

Tiu Laurel said the expertise of PhilSuTech will become increasingly important as the sugar industry faces rising production costs, labor shortages, limited access to technology and financing, climate change, and RSSI.

“PhilSuTech has always been an important partner of our sugar industry, bringing science, technology and expertise closer to the people who need them most,” he said in his message.

Tiu Laurel said the industry must move beyond simply managing one crisis after another and build a sector capable of anticipating problems, adapting quickly, and becoming more productive and competitive.

He said the SRA’s release of the three latest high-yielding sugarcane varieties is part of that broader shift toward productivity and resilience.

Tiu Laurel urged industry stakeholders to treat existing challenges as opportunities for transformation.

He cited mechanization as an answer to labor shortages, climate-smart agriculture as a response to climate risks, and science and technology as pathways toward higher yields.

Tiu Laurel also said innovation cannot remain confined to laboratories, universities, technology centers, or conference halls and must reach sugarcane farms in forms that growers can use.

“The technology we develop must work for the farmer. If it cannot help them produce more, reduce costs, save labor, manage risks, or earn better, then we have to ask ourselves, what good is it?” the DA chief said.

SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said faster containment and productivity measures are critical to protecting both producers and consumers from the wider economic effects of the infestation.

“Our objective is to minimize crop losses, stabilize sugar production, and prevent unnecessary disruptions in supply… The faster we do this, the better we can protect farmers’ incomes, sustain milling operations, and help keep sugar prices stable for consumers,” Azcona said.

The SRA has also intensified surveillance through an inter-agency task force.

A geotagging application allows local governments to upload real-time infestation reports to help authorities identify affected areas and direct interventions.

The agency is also collaborating with a Japanese technology firm that successfully developed early-detection systems for coconut scale insects and banana Fusarium wilt in Mindanao.

The SRA is seeking a similar early-detection system for RSSI in Negros as authorities try to shift from reacting to outbreaks toward identifying infestations before they cause more extensive economic damage.