THE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday said that the rice black bug (RBB) infestation in one Isabela municipality has been prevented to spread into other palay fields in the region.

 Dr. Andrew Villacorta, the Department’s regional coordinator for the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice Program in Cagayan Valley, reported to Secretary Arthur Yap that DA laboratories in the region are now mass-producing Metarhizium.

Metarhizium is a bio-control agent against RBB for distribution to farmers in order to reverse the spread of this palay pest.

Aside from this, the Agriculture department is also undertaking a massive information campaign to educate farmers on how to control the spread of the RBB in the province.

 Municipal Agriculturist Carmelo Abalos first reported the RBB infestation in the coastal town of Dinapigue in Isabela early in January 2008.

The DA regional officials quickly sent a team from the Regional Crop Protection Center to check the extent of the infestation.

A Multi-Agency RBB Task Force was also formed to carry out monitoring, surveillance and quarantine measures to contain and eradicate the pest.

Villacorta said that 36 hectares of RBB-infested rice lands in Isabela have already been treated to prevent the spread of the pest.

“The infestation in Dinapigue, which is a coastal town at the foot of the Sierra Madre Mountains and can be reached via the province of Quirino for about 10 to 12 hours trip by land, is an isolated case and is now under control,” Villacorta said, adding that a quarantine checkpoint was also set-up in Nagtipunan, Quirino, the entry point between Aurora and Quirino to regulate the possible entry of an alternate RBB host.
--Ira Karen Apanay