Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson formed the Provincial Coordinating Task Force on Fall Armyworm (FAW) to protect crops in the province from possible armyworm infestation.
“There is a critical need to create a provincial coordinating task force to ensure preparedness and to strengthen pest surveillance and management activities,” Lacson said in Executive Order 19-42 issued on Monday.
A suspected FAW case in Barangay La Granja, La Carlota City is in the process of verification according to Regional Technical Director Rene Famoso, officer-in-charge of the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Western Visayas.
He warned the farmers that this exotic pest can infest more than 500 plant species.
Lacson ordered the Capitol FAW task force to work with its regional counterpart to guarantee the readiness of all stakeholders of the province and also make applicable short and long-term action plans.
The main tasks of the task force is to take charge on the overall activities on the ongoing monitoring and detecting of the possible existence of FAW within the province, and to implement quarantine measures and regulations to prevent the possible entry and spread of the pest.
The task force is also assigned to authenticate reported field suspicion and toil on the development of appropriate pest management technologies for the control of FAW within the province.
Information dissemination will be organized, and the group will make sure that a timely release of pest advisory on FAW to the farmers through the local government unit will be sustained.
Other members of the newly-formed task force are representatives from the Bureau of Plant Industry and its Quarantine Service, DA-Agricultural Programs Coordinating Office, National Seed Quality Control Services, Sugar Regulatory Administration, among others. (RJ Espartinez)