Mindanao sugar planters seek aid as pest attack widens

VALENCIA CITY—A group of sugarcane planters in Mindanao has asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to extend emergency financial assistance to sugarcane farmers whose farms were devastated by the red-striped soft-scale insect (RSSI), which has infested at least five provinces in Mindanao. Manuel Antonio Zubiri, president of Mindanao Sustainable Sugarcane Agricultural Development