RSSI Survey — Negros Occidental

Provincial pest survey · Negros Occidental

Where the soft scale insect has been found

Field teams from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist and Office of the Provincial Veterinarian have inspected thousands of sugarcane farmlots across the province for Red-Striped Soft Scale Insect. This is what they found, and where.

Survey Map Data as of—

How severity is measured

A surveyor counts the scale insects on a single leaf. The count sets the level.

Level 1LowOne to five insects per leaf

Early, localized and difficult to detect

Few insects are present, usually scattered on the underside of the lower, older leaves. The crop still looks green and vigorous, and there is little or no visible damage from the roadside. Finding them takes close inspection, turning the leaves over.

This is the best stage to act. Biological control applied now contains the insects before they multiply and spread.

Two pale scale insects on a green sugarcane leaf blade. — Two insects on a single blade.

Scale insects scattered thinly across several sugarcane blades. — Scattered across several blades.

Level 2ModerateSix to ten insects per leaf

Infestation is established and beginning to spread

Yellowing, discoloration or reduced leaf vigor begins to show.

Prompt biological control suppresses the population before it builds into a heavy infestation.

A sugarcane leaf yellowing along its length, with a scale insect on the blade. — Yellowing along the blade.

Cream, oval scale insects clustered in a line along the yellowing midrib of a sugarcane leaf. — Clustered along the midrib, where the yellowing starts.

Level 3HighMore than ten insects per leaf

Heavy feeding, and the sooty mold that follows

The leaf yellows, then blackens as mold grows on the honeydew the insects leave behind. The coating blocks light from the blade and slows the plant growth.

Many scale insects spread along a sugarcane leaf blade. — More than ten on one blade.

Scale insects feeding, with black mold forming on the blades beside them. — Feeding, with black mold forming alongside.

At field scale

What it looks like from the road

The same levels seen across a whole block rather than on one leaf. A clean field holds its color; an affected one starts to fade in patches.

A sugarcane field with a full green canopy and no visible damage. — No visible infestation. Green, upright, a full canopy.

A sugarcane field with yellowing spreading through the stand. — Yellowing spreading through the stand.

At field scale

When it is left to spread

Left untreated, the colonies spread across the field. The canopy declines widely, and yield can fall — particularly in susceptible varieties.

Sugarcane with the lower leaves dried and dying back. — Progressive yellowing and drying in the lower canopy.

A badly affected sugarcane field, the whole canopy turned straw-colored. — Widespread field decline associated with an unmanaged infestation.

What to look for

Black sooty mold indicates established RSSI feeding

The insects feed on sugarcane sap and leave sticky honeydew on the leaves and stalks. Sooty mold grows on that honeydew, producing the black coating that interferes with photosynthesis and holds the plant back.

Sugarcane leaves coated in black sooty mold. — Leaves coated in black mold.

Dark streaking and yellowing along sugarcane blades. — Dark streaking with yellowing alongside.

Control and response

Spraying biocontrol agents on the affected fields

The Provincial Biosecurity Task Force for Agriculture carries out roadside and perimeter spraying, working with the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian, the LGUs concerned and other stakeholders.

Truck-mounted mist sprayers work the fields and boundaries that have a farm track a truck can reach. Where they cannot, the biological control agent goes directly to the farmers, who apply it with backpack sprayers.

A provincial sprayer truck working down a track between two blocks of sugarcane. — A spray unit working a track between cane blocks.

A mounted mist blower directing spray across a field of young sugarcane. — A mounted mist blower treating young cane.

Production

Growing the fungal biocontrol agents

The Provincial Government grows entomopathogenic fungi, including Metarhizium and Beauveria, for the biological control of the scale insect. It will also mass-rear the beneficial insects that prey on it.

A technician in a laboratory coat sealing a culture bottle over an open flame. — Aseptic inoculation of the fungal culture to minimize contamination.

Cracked maize grain spread by hand across a tray, prepared as a growing medium. — Prepared grain substrate used for fungal propagation.

Distribution

Reaching the fields a truck cannot

The biological control agent is handed to the farmers whose fields sit inland, or too far from a track for a sprayer to reach. Each of them is shown how to prepare it and when to apply it.

A long line of farmers standing on a rural track, each holding a bottle of the biological control agent. — Growers receive the treatment in bottles to take back to their own fields.

Farmers and agricultural staff standing beside a block of sugarcane, holding bottles of the treatment. — A handover beside standing cane.

Farmers gathered under a bamboo shelter, each holding a bottle of the treatment. — A group collects its supply.

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Please read

How to read this map

Blank areas are not clear areas

A point appears only where a team has already inspected. Some cities and municipalities have been surveyed so far. An area with no points has not been checked yet — it does not mean the insect is absent there.

What this map shows

A location and an infestation level for each surveyed site.

Locations are approximate

Points come from a phone’s GPS at the moment of inspection, and boundary lines are simplified for display. Read them for the pattern, never to determine a property line.

Severity is a moment in time

Each level records what a surveyor counted on the day of the visit. Infestation rises and falls with weather, crop stage and control measures, so a site’s condition today can differ from what is shown here.

A snapshot, not a live feed

The figures are fixed at the date shown above and do not change on their own. Surveying is ongoing, so the province republishes this page as new results come in.

For official confirmation

This page is published for public information. For guidance on your own farm, or for any official record of a site’s status, contact the PBTF. The full disclaimer is at the bottom of this page.

RSSI Infestation Monitoring