• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Hawaiian-Philippine Company (HPCo), one of the country’s pioneering sugar mills, led by Chairman Paul Andrew Curran, has employed organic solutions to combat the infestation of Red Striped Soft Scale Insect (RSSI) in sugarcane farms.
Rodeo Suating, HPCO’s CoGen Head and Regulatory Compliance Officer, who is working on a specific organic solution against RSSI infestation, with Yael Skutelsky and Nina Lehmann, international agricultural experts from Israel, said the use of the organic solution on RSSI-affected sugarcane will not kill the beneficial insects present.
The organic solution, Suating said, will focus on pest growth disruption and reproduction suppression.
“Our main goal is to lower the ratio of RSSI to a certain threshold, so that beneficial insects can naturally manage them,” he added.
The RSSI infestation continues to destroy sugarcane plantations in the Visayas, with Negros Occidental as among the most affected provinces. As of September 2, the Sugar Regulatory Administration reported that at least 4,324 hectares of sugarcane farms in the region have been affected by the pest.
Since early June, HPCo’s technical team has been working on a specific organic solution that is suited to varying infestation levels.
Under the guidance of the Israeli experts, HPCO’s team came up with the protocol, which involves a cycle of assessment, spraying and monitoring, designed to gradually reduce RSSI, while supporting beneficial insect populations.
The team initially applied the protocol in HPCo’s own cane fields, before extending it to nearby cane farms.
The RSSI primarily targets sugarcane along field perimeters, usually within five meters of the roadside or edges. Infestations lead to yellowing leaves, stunted cane height, and shortened jutes. The insect’s life cycle starts with instar nymph infection, occurring as early as two to three months after cane growth begins, with young and adult scales becoming more noticeable from the fourth to the tenth month.
HPCo vowed to concentrate on distributing the organic solution to the affected farms. For their part, planters, through their respective associations, will conduct the assessment of infestation levels, and the actual spraying and de-trashing activities in their fields, all while strictly adhering to the protocols established by HPCo.
The organic solution, tested by HPCo’s research and development team, disrupts pest growth, and suppresses reproduction without harming beneficial insects. This approach aims to lower the RSSI population to a level that allows natural predators, such as ladybugs and spiders, lacewings and others, to thrive and provide biological control.
“This is the most affordable option over the use of commercial pesticide, which simultaneously eradicates beneficial insects in the area. Our protocol is available for everyone in our mill district who is affected,” Suating said.
In collaboration with local government units and planters’ associations, HPCo said it is committed to provide the initial dose of the organic solution free of charge to affected sugarcane farms within its milling district, and to its planter members, particularly those in EB Magalona and Silay City, to help the farmers effectively manage future infestations.*
