Central Luzon farmers now using less insecticides

Rice farmers in Central Luzon have been using less insecticides than those in other major rice-producing regions in Asia.

Since the late 1980s, insecticide use by rice growers in the country’s "rice granary" has been falling compared to the situation in other Asian rice bowls, where the use of insecticides and other chemicals remains high or is even increasing.

The trend has been confirmed in surveys both by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Laguna.

The research showed that insecticide use by farmers in Region 3 peaked in the mid-1980s and is now at an historic low, though some farmers still use insecticides as a last resort to prevent serious crop loss.

Herbicide use peaked in the early 1990s and has since slowly declined. Farmers, however, continue to use herbicides more often than insecticides.

Encouragingly, although insecticide use steeply declined, rice farmers in Region 3 had increased their yields over the same period – from an average of 2.75 tons per hectare to close to 3.25 t/ha by 2002.

"The result is testimony to the success and hard work of PhilRice and the other groups in the Philippines who over many years have been promoting the use of integrated pest management," commented IRRI Director General Ronald P. Cantrell.

Dr. Cantrell further pointed out: "The surveys also show that the mistakes of the Green Revolution – where too much emphasis was sometimes put on the use of chemicals for pest control – have clearly been recognized and corrected." – Rudy A. Fernandez