KALIBO, Aklan – A sweet corn farmer in this town aired his concern about the presence of fall armyworms that could damage the agricultural products in the province.
Nestor Cesar, a corn farmer that currently manages his seven hectares of farmlands in Barangay Mobo here, said that personnel of the Bureau of Plants and Industry (BPI), a government agency under the Department of Agriculture (DA) already visited his farm and confirmed the presence of the armyworms.
“I believe typhoon Ursula in December last year has brought the presence of fall armyworm in my farm. The BPI has already provided me with some sprays. If left unchecked, this could propagate to vegetables and even palays,” he said.
The BPI personnel who visited Cesar’s place came from DA’s regional office in Iloilo. Cesar said they will study how to effectively eradicate the presence of fall armyworm here.
The fall armyworm is a species that falls in the order of Lepidoptera (order of insects that includes butterflies and moths) and is the larval life stage of a fall armyworm moth. The term “armyworm” can refer to several species, often describing the large-scale invasive behavior of the species’ larval stage./PN
