Jakarta, April 9 (ANTARA) - A number of districts in East Java have during past few days been plagued by sudden caterpillar (desiciria inclusa) population explosions. People's mango trees, orchards and houses were invaded by uncountable numbers of the creeping hairy creatures.
Experts said the caterpillars would in due course of time change into cocoons and eventually into butterflies but they also warned that the attacks could recur.
The caterpillar invasion at first happened in Probolinggo district but it later spread to other districts in East Java such as Pasuruan, Jombang, Banyuwangi, Bojonegoro, even to certain districts in Central and West Java.
"It reportedly has spread to other regions," Agriculture Minister Suswono said on Saturday. The minister however called on the people not to panic because the intensity of the pest which attacked the leaves and stems of plants was declining.
The people are called on to remain cautious and coordinate with field officials from the agriculture office when they found potential caterpillar attacks. The regional government of East Java has made every efforts to anticipate the worst impact of the caterpillar attacks.
The caterpillar attacks in East Java's Probolinggo district spread to eight sub-districts and two district in Probolinggo city. The worst attack happened in Sumber Kedawung and Pondok Wuluh villages.
According to Prof. Aunu Rauf, a pest expert at the Bogor-based Institute of Agriculture (IPB), the outbreak of caterpillars was a result of the weather anomalies which killed caterpillar predators. "The prolonged rainy season caused predator Braconid and Apanteles unable to stay alive," he said.
Pest analyst of the Jember Uniersity (Unej) Hari Purnomo said meanwhile that the presence of virus and bacteria were two pathogens which could control the outbreak of caterpillars. "In other countries, NPV (nuclear polyhadrosis virus) and bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis) are able to oppress the presence of caterpillars because both of them were pathogens which are able to eliminate them," he said.
He said environmental damage and weather anomalies had partly paralyzed predators, parasites and pathogens thus allowing caterpillars to break out and attacked people's plantations. However not all of the predators had disappeared, particularly parasites.
The species of caterpillars which spread in East Java was that of the moth (lymantriidae) family or butterflies which are active during the night time, Hari said.
According to Prof Aunu, the caterpillars which attacked people's plants last week head turned or morphed into cocoons. "The caterpillars have morphed into cocoons or even some have become butterflies. But one should be aware that caterpillars have a life cycle of 1.5 months so that their second attack should be anticipated," Aunu said.
Hari Purnomo said about 50 percent of caterpillar cocoons in the mango plantations of villagers in Probolinggo had died due to attack by parasites, pathogens and predators.
"We found that cocoons in a number of plantation plots which were not sprayed with pesticides have been attacked by parasites up to 50 percent so that the cocoons turned blackish and died," he said.
Yet, Prof. Aunu warned the people of possible second invasion of the pest. "Their development has to be controlled and it could emerge again as the caterpillar has a life cycle of 1.5 months. People must be ready to spray, sweep and burn them because otherwise it would spread. If it remains unchecked it would incur a great loss to the local mango farmers," Aunu said.
After all, reports on the outbreak of the pests said that caterpillar attacks have also reached Central and West Java. Caterpillars have begun to invade mango plants in two villages in Kudus district, Central Java.
Field official of the Agriculture Service of Kudus, Aris Priambudi said caterpillars had attacked the village of Hadiwarno of the Mejobo sub-district and Jati Kulon of Jati subdistrict in Kudus.
"At present, the population of caterpillars that attack people?s mango plants could reached tens of thousands. It could even increase in the coming several days," Aris said.
He said that mango trees become their main homes in the two villages but when they have become massive it is not impossible for them to move to other types of plants.
In West Java, caterpillars have entered two districts, namely Subang and Bekasi districts. According to Oo Sutisna, chairman of West Java's Fisherman and Farmers Association (KTNA), the regional government should take immediate anticipatory steps as two districts have been affected by the pest. "We ask the regional government to take anticipatory steps to stop the spread of the pest," he said.
He said that his organization had reported that caterpillars had attacked the subdistrict of Paseh in Subang and a village in Bekasi. "Based on the report of our friends in KTNA, caterpillars have entered Subang and Bekasi," he said.
Yet, the massive attack of caterpillars in Java has not yet caused significant losses. The Ministry of Agriculture said up to now it has as yet to receive any report on significant damage caused by the caterpillar 'invasion' of several areas in Java.
Agriculture Minister Suswono said the outbreak of the caterpillar pest, especial in Probolinggo, only caused damage to about 1.2 percent of the mango plantation there.
"Up to now, no one has reported to have suffered from losses. The attacked plants were not killed and they were not in a flowering condition. The pest outbreak could not yet be categorized as wreaking havoc on the plants," the minister said.
(T.A014/A/HAJM/21:15/.... ) April 9, 2011
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