The bad news: Coconut famers in the Calabarzon are still battling with the coconut scale insect (CSI) that are threatening their livelihood. The good news: They’ve found a new champion in a newspaper columnist (who also happens to own a coconut plantation).
“Bad news flies as fast as the pests can travel and I heard about their attack a week ago, which sent me rushing to Lipa City. With my own eyes I saw the undeniable reddish features of leaves nearing starvation and eventual death, several cut samples confirmed the presence and onslaught of the Scale insects,” writes Cito Beltran in his Philippine Star column CTALK.
According to the former TV host, who keeps 24 ancient buko trees as an inheritance from his late journalist father Louie Beltran, a two-time chemical treatment for 60 trees costs PHP24,000 (or PHP400 per tree) but hiring people to spray it would cost nearly the same at PHP42,000.
We feel sorry for Beltran, we do, but we feel worse for ordinary coconut farmers who may have more trees in their plantation but less money to spend on fumigation.
“Given this experience, the cost and the uncertainty of victory, I feel so bad for the real coconut farmers, the entire industry and the other related industries and businesses that are literally endangered, faced with gigantic expense requirements to respond to the Scale insect infestation,” writes Beltran.
“Most frustrating of all is the absence of information or bulletins from the Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Coconut Authority who should utilize the top 3 print, radio and TV stations and programs to inform the affected people and industry!”
We hear you, brother.
