Tungro, rat infestations won’t affect WV rice prod’n
The tungro and rat infestation that hit rice plantations recently will not affect rice production in the region.
Department of Agriculture (DA) 6 director Larry Nacionales in a press conference yesterday said the region is even expected to exceed its rice production target in 2009 by 9 percent.
Nacionales said they will surpass last year’s rice production which is 2.08 million metric tons. With the good harvest, the region is expected to have a rice production of 2.2 million metric tons.
Nacionales attributed the increase in the restoration of irrigated areas, palay check and use of new technology in the rice production.
Earlier, DA reported that portions of the towns of Pototan, Dingle and Concepcion are affected by the tungro virus.
Nacionales, however, said the area affected by tungro is minimal. If there are 309,212 hectares of rice land and the affected area is 4,000 hectares, the effect is still minimal, said Nacionales.
Nacionales said it is still minimal if 20 percent of the production is affected by tungro. “There is nothing to be alarmed. The alarming stage would be considered if 50 percent of the total rice production is affected,” Nacionales said.
The agriculture department will recommend the elimination of all affected rice plant in order to contain the virus or presence of rats. The presence of rats is expected given that it is now a harvest season for rice, said Nacionales.
The agriculture department will also recommend the use of “matatag” rice variety that has better production yield, he said.