By CESAR JOLITO III
Kabankalan City is set to be placed under a state of calamity as the red-striped soft scale insect (RSSI) infestation continues to spread across sugarcane plantations, with the Negros Island Region (NIR) now recording the highest number of affected areas in the Visayas.
Kabankalan Mayor Benjie Miranda announced that he would declare a state of calamity to expedite government assistance and pest-control measures.
Of the city’s 17,000 hectares of sugarcane, nearly half have already reported RSSI infestation, while more than 3,000 hectares have been validated to have the pest, Miranda said during the RSSI stakeholders forum organized by the United Sugar Producers’ Federation of the Philippines (Unifed) at Nature’s Village Resort yesterday.
The latest data from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) as of June 26, showed that NIR remains the hardest-hit by RSSI in the Visayas.
The region accounts for the bulk of the infestation, with 239,215.62 hectares planted with sugarcane.
A total of 76,609 hectares have been reported affected, equivalent to 32.03 percent of the region’s planted area, while 16,019.16 hectares have already been validated.
The infestation has affected 6,025 farmers across 423 barangays.
In Negros Occidental, 61,242 hectares have been reported infested, representing 32.18 percent of the province’s 190,314.19 hectares of sugarcane.
Field validation has confirmed 14,447.83 hectares are affected, impacting 5,435 farmers in 365 barangays.
Meanwhile, Negros Oriental has 15,367 hectares reported affected, or 31.42 percent of its 48,901.43 hectares of sugarcane area.
Of these, 1,571.33 hectares have been validated, affecting 590 farmers in 58 barangays.
Outside Negros, Western Visayas has recorded 409.68 infested hectares, affecting 183 farmers in 63 barangays, while Eastern Visayas has 148.07 validated hectares, affecting 50 farmers in 15 barangays.
The SRA said reported affected areas in both regions remain subject to further field validation and data consolidation.
Across the Visayas, 273,441.09 hectares are planted with sugarcane for Crop Year 2025-2026.
Of these, 16,576.90 hectares have been validated as affected by RSSI, impacting 6,258 farmers in 501 barangays./CCJ, WDJ