The Bureau of Plant Industry warned farmers against the most common pests that could impact on the expected yield in the wet cropping harvest.
The BPI-Crop Pest Management Division listed five possible pests that farmers might encounter during the wet planting season. These are bacterial leaf blight, brown plant hopper, rodents, rice stem borer and rice black bug.
The CPMD issued an alert to all crops technical staff to closely monitor areas that are prone to infestation or infection by the five pests that occur in the third quarter of the year, based on historical data.
It asked farmers to be vigilant of their crops and actively work the government for immediate implementation of pest management activities. The bacterial leaf blight traditionally occurs in Regions 1, 3, 4-B, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Farmers are advised to adopt good planting practices and were also told to avoid excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer.