ILOILO CITY, July 24 -- The Iloilo provincial government has convened sugar industry stakeholders to coordinate efforts against the rapidly spreading red-striped soft scale insect (RSSI), which has already damaged more than 7,000 hectares of sugarcane plantations, or over 30 percent of the province's planted area.

Officer-in-Charge Provincial Agriculturist Geron Magbanua said Wednesday the infestation continues to expand, citing data from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

"Farmers and millers are worried because if the infestation continues to spread, there could be little sugarcane left to mill," he said in a phone interview.

Magbanua said the pest spreads easily and reproduces rapidly, with a single life cycle producing more...