Emergence of army worms recurred in at least three towns of Bohol as the rainy days followed a long period of hot season.

The municipalities of Carlos P. Garcia and Mabini topped the areas of concerns, while the latest addition is the town of Batuan.

Larry Pamugas, OIC at the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, said they monitored the army worms attack in Mabini as of the first week of July, and just this week, the army worms started attacking ricefields in the town of Batuan.

Pamugas said Technical teams from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist proceeded to Batuan to spray chemicals on army worms as the last resort.

Pamugas explained that the army worms burrow themselves underground or under the soil where they keep their eggs. The eggs hatch during rainy days.

This is the reason that the army worms have come out recently, following the rainy days.

Pamugas said the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist tap local farmer-technicians in every sub-villages (purok) to monitor their areas and report any presence of army worms.

Farm technicians from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist will then be deployed to the affected areas to assess the situation.

In areas with presence of predators of army worms like chickens, birds, dragonflies and even pigs, there is no need to spray chemicals on the army worms and they would just let the predators handle the population of army worms as natural elimination.

Chemical spraying is only applied as last resort, according to Pamugas.

Pamugas also said that the army worms usually hatch eggs in three weeks, but the farm technicians who assessed the situation in Batuan last week said they noticed it had shortened to one week this time.

Pamugas confirmed that during drought, the ovulation of army worms had been shortened to one week.(AV)