Black bugs attack rice fields of coastal barangay in Zambo City

Farmers in Manicahan, a coastal barangay in Zamboanga City, fear their harvest would be greatly reduced due black bugs that attack their rice plants.

A report on "Unang Balita" on Wednesday said black bug or stem borer destroys rice stems and lays eggs during the rainy season.

Citing information from the Zamboanga City agriculturist office, the report said spraying pesticides is still the most effective way of killing the rice bugs.

Meanwhile, in 2014, black bugs destroyed a total of 2,820 hectares of rice fields in Bulacan.

According to Gloria Carillo, head of the Bulacan Agriculture Office, the bugs attacked the rice fields in the province during summer. 

She said the bugs gnaw into the lower part of the rice stem ang suck up the sap of the plant.

Black bugs, according to her is an “invasive pest species.”

Agriculturists in Central Luzon advised farmers to use "light trapping equipment" as they regularly clean their fields and apply pathogenic microorganism (a type of fungus) to kill the bugs. — LBG, GMA News