To strengthen efforts to safeguard the country's corn industry, the University of the Philippines Los BaΓ±os (UPLB) launched a new project to address the growing threat of white-bellied corn planthopper (WBCP) Stenocranus pacificus Kirkaldy, through surveillance and management strategies. The project is funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD).
The (WBCP) is an invasive insect pest that threatens corn production in the Philippines. However, there exist some gaps in resistance monitoring, insect molecular data, and farmersβ awareness necessitate the need for science and technology-based surveillance and farmer capacity-building initiatives.
The project will conduct survey, characterization, and management of the WBCP). It will also capacitate the farmers and the Regional Crop Protection Center in key regions to manage the invasive insect pest.Β Β
To initiate the project implementation, DOST-PCAARRD's Crops Research Division (CRD) convened an Inception Meeting with the project team. The meeting clarified roles and responsibilities, discussed expected outputs, and aligned implementation guidelines among project partners.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the Institute of Weed Science, Entomology and Plant Pathology, UPLB, and DOST-PCAARRD, led by CRD Program Development and Resource Generation Section Head Renelle C. Yebron, Program Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant Head Joel Norman R. Panganiban, and Commodity Specialist for Corn Alvin Quiel C. Sabanal.