PCA details efforts to stop coconut pest

Despite an array of scientific methods now being employed by the government, the success of the effort to stop the outbreak of the coconut scale insect infestation will still rely on simple visual inspection techniques, the newly appointed administrator of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) said on Thursday.

Romulo Arancon Jr., who was named to the PCA’s top post by Presidential Assistant on Food Security and Agriculture Modernization Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan earlier this week, said in a telephone conference with reporters they are still relying on just visual inspection of coconuts and coco-based products in key quarantine checkpoints to stop the spread of scale insects.