Agricultural extension workers (AEWs) are advised to conduct regular monitoring on possible presence of pests in the farms.

 

This was one of the topics presented by the Regional Crop Protection Center in the region (RCPC) during the two-day consultative meeting, held last July 2-3, 2024, at a venue in Cebu City which was conducted by the Corn Program of the Department of Agriculture-Central Visayas (DA7).

 

The meeting was attended by the AEWS from the different municipalities and cities of Cebu handling corn, cassava, sorghum, and soybean commodities.

 

Bienvenido D. Acabal, Jr., DA7 RCPC chief, together with his colleague discussed the different pests that will likely infest during this cropping season of corn such as the fall armyworms, stalk borers, flea bugs, and others pests. In addition, they provided methods and strategies to help mitigate and lessen the damages brought by pest infestation like the use of biological control agents incorporating the different good agricultural practices, as well as creating awareness when to seek help from the center.

 

Despite the concerning issues, the OIC-Regional Executive Director Engr. Cirilo N. Namoc, called the AEWs and program implementers to establish collaboration, coordination, and convergence to achieve the targets mainly on the increased yield of corn production in the region. He also added that AEWs should provide the baseline data needed for the planning and where to give the interventions funded under the program.

 

Regional Corn Program Focal Lavinia Corpus, shared that the program will prioritize the needs of the farmer associations and cooperatives (FCAs) to strengthen agricultural sustainability and food security and collaborate projects that would benefit the farmers with the DA partner agencies.

 

Other discussions and presentations were updates on the plans and projects (PAPs) for the second semester of the year, strengthened collaborative partnerships of DA attached agencies and implementers, issues and concerns on the insurance claims under the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation VII (PCIC), damages caused by the infestation of FAW on corn and natural disasters and phenomena (El Niño and the looming La Niña).