Emergency steps to counter pest attacks on coconut trees

Reuters

Manila

The Philippines has taken emergency measures in a bid to head off a fast-spreading insect infestation threatening its coconut plantations, which if left uncontrolled could severely cripple the country’s most valuable agricultural export.

The number of damaged trees in the world’s top exporter of coconut oil has jumped 30% in two weeks, stoking worries about tighter supplies at a time when global demand is seen outstripping production from Asia, home to 85% of output.

From just about 1,300 trees two weeks ago, the number of damaged fruit-bearing trees has jumped to more than 1,700, state-agency Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) said yesterday.

The loss of production could reach more than 33bn pesos ($752.39mn) in a year if the coconut scale infestation spreads to major coconut-growing provinces such as the Bicol region and the Zamboanga Peninsula, PCA board chairman Francis Pangilinan said last week.

The country’s annual exports of coconut products averaged $1.3bn in the past two years.

Still reeling from damage to about a tenth of its estimated 340mn coconut trees from super typhoon Haiyan late last year, the country is now struggling to contain what Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has described as an “epidemic”.

“There is no 100% effective weapon yet against the insects,” Alcala said.

Tight supply after the typhoon has pushed up Philippine coconut oil prices by over 12% this year to a high of $1,415 a tonne recently in Rotterdam. Gains could continue to be clocked up if the infestation is not controlled.

“The insects are air-borne so they could spread quickly in just a matter of days if the winds are strong,” said an expert at the PCA who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Infested areas have been placed under quarantine in an effort to prevent the insects from invading nearby bigger plantations in the Bicol region and the Zamboanga Peninsula in the south, said PCA’s Pangilinan, who is also the presidential assistant for food security and agricultural modernisation.

The PCA has begun implementing measures such as pruning leaves and spraying pesticides in affected areas.

The insect feeds on the leaves of the coconut tree, sucking nutrients until the leaves turn yellow, then die and fall off.

Earlier this month, President Benigno Aquino approved a 750mn peso budget for an insect control programme covering affected plantations in five provinces such as Quezon, Batangas, Cavite, and Laguna, just south of Manila, and Basilan in southern Philippines. “If the spread of this invasive pest is not contained, it may wipe out the coconut industry ... eventually in the rest of the country,” he said.

Euclides Forbes, a coconut farmer and former PCA chief, said the insects — called Aspidiotus Rigidus — were first detected in 2009 in four villages in Batangas.

There are 23 coconut oil mills operating in the affected areas, representing a third of the nationwide total, according to an estimate by the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines (UCAP).

Google removes hate blog against Filipinos

Google has taken down a blog that listed ways to harass Singapore’s Filipino population, drawing praise from Internet users appalled by growing racial tensions in the city-state.

Police said Thursday that they are investigating the anonymous “Blood Stained Singapore” blog, which suggested Singaporeans should refuse to be served by Filipinos in restaurants, or “accidentally” shove them in crowded places.  In a post titled “Filipino infestation in Singapore — five point guide to showing displeasure without breaking the law”, the blog also advised Singaporeans not to help Filipinos involved in traffic accidents.

The blog, which surfaced on Google’s Blogger platform in May, was no longer available by late Thursday. A Google spokeswoman said she could not comment on individual cases but confirmed that the US web giant removes material from Blogger that violates its policy on hate speech. The Filipino community in Singapore is estimated at more than 170,000, many of them professionals seen by some Singaporeans as rivals for jobs — a sharp change from a decade ago, when most Filipinos there worked as domestic helpers. Singaporeans make up just over 60% of the 5.4mn population, with a low fertility rate forcing the government to rely heavily on guest workers.