Field tests show effectiveness of cocolisap pesticide

SILANG, Cavite, Philippines – Field tests on the environment-friendly, non-chemical organic pesticide developed by a member of the Filipino Inventors Society Producers Cooperative (FISPC) has successfully shown its effectiveness in reducing and controlling the population of coconut scale insects (CSI), more popularly known as cocolisap.

Francisco Pagayon, FISPC chairman, said that the recent seven-day spraying of the GBEE BEMO (Green and Blue Earth Enterprises Beneficial Effective Micro Organism) on some 300 coconut trees in the two-hectare ES Farm in Silang, Cavite of Jun Espino showed a high reduction of the cocolisap population.

Pagayon said the results were monitored by neighboring farms and have drawn excitement and huge interest from the public.

The FISPC and Espino, along with his farm caretaker who conducted the spraying of the GBEE BEMO organic pesticide, conducted an inspection of the coconut trees last Thursday.

They confirmed that the number of scale insects in the trees was significantly reduced.

FISPC member Jesse Ambrocio, Jr., who formulated the GBEE BEMO solution, called on Presidential Adviser on Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Francis Pangilinan, who heads the task force on the cocolisap outbreak in Southern Luzon, to take a look at his organic pesticide.

Ambrocio said the Department of Agriculture, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine Coconut Authority are welcome to visit the FISPC showroom and business center at the Delta building in Quezon City for a discussion on his GBEE BEMO solution and field test results.

He said the FISPC is willing to conduct other field tests on infested farms in the Southern Luzon region and even in other areas reported to have cocolisap infestation such as Basilan province.

Ambrocio said the GBEE BEMO is a “probiotic” organic pesticide spray made from four microorganisms.

He refused to elaborate on the composition of the solution to prevent copying by other groups.

“We want to reiterate that GBEE BEMO is the environment-friendly, all natural, organic pesticide solution that could best solve the cocolisap problem, instead of the expensive and highly-questionable solution of using harmful neocotinoid chemicals and releasing predator insects that will do more harm than good,” Ambrocio said.

He said aside from disrupting the reproductive appetite of cocolisap, the organic compounds of GBEE BEMO will stop other plant pests, fungi and virus and will even convert the pollutants or toxins secreted by scale insects into plant nutrients, bringing life back to cocolisap-infested coconut trees.

Pagayon said the FISPC will be the exclusive distributor of the GBEE BEMO pesticide, similar to the other products of FISPC member-inventors and entrepreneurs.