00:00In the vast field of corn,
00:12there is a swarm of insects.
00:19They can't be seen
00:23because they are inside when they attack.
00:30There is not a single plant that is not affected by this armyworm
00:36because all of them have a right.
00:42Even though they are small, their presence in the field of corn is great.
00:47If there is one thing that fall armyworms or harabas like to do,
01:06it is eating.
01:08This one, because of the amount of food it ate,
01:18can't stop eating.
01:26Because it is full, it is looking for a place to rest.
01:31It doesn't know that it has reached the end of the plant.
01:42Until...
01:50The unknown harabas is waiting for it down there.
02:02In the distance, a swarm of insects is looking for food.
02:13Later on, it noticed that the harabas has fallen
02:20so it immediately attacked.
02:24Because there is only one enemy,
02:30the harabas managed to escape.
02:36But it won't stop.
02:42At the sting of the insect, the harabas is weakening.
02:53But it still continues to fight.
03:05The harabas never stops fighting.
03:10But it still continues to fight.
03:21The harabas never stops fighting.
03:27Until...
03:30It sees a plant.
03:33From here, it is checking if the insect is still around.
03:44When it is sure that the insect is safe,
03:48it immediately moves to the higher plant.
03:56Finally, the harabas is safe.
04:03Finally, the harabas is safe.
04:10In this story, the harabas is not the leader.
04:16Because the harabas is actually fighting with the insects.
04:21Because the harabas is considered a pest to the corn.
04:26I just noticed that an army worm has fallen.
04:33It is positive.
04:36It is in the core of this young plant.
04:41It is eating.
04:43They go into the core of this plant.
04:46They are eating the shoots.
04:49There is not a single plant that is not affected by this army worm
04:52because all of them have the right...
05:01Father Doming has been planting corn for more than four decades.
05:06But it has been four years since their big problem started.
05:13It has been four years since the first time he came to us.
05:18Almost no one came to me for corn.
05:20I was supposed to get 50 to 60 catties of corn,
05:26but I only got 6 catties.
05:28Father Doming lost more than Php 50,000
05:32when the fall army worms, or harabas, attacked his corn.
05:37This experiment was just recent.
05:40It was only in 2019 that the presence of fall army worms was detected.
05:46And its target is corn.
05:51In June 2019 in Cagayan,
05:54the first fall army worms were detected in the Philippines.
05:58It came from tropical areas in the United States,
06:03and it eventually reached Asia.
06:07To date, it has affected 76 provinces in the country,
06:13and more than 1,000 farmers.
06:16Even though insecticide was used,
06:20the harabas did not die.
06:23This army worm is still alive.
06:26Even though they were sprayed with insecticide,
06:29it can hatch 100 to 400 eggs per adult moth.
06:35In their vast population,
06:38even though they are of the same species,
06:41they cannot be saved.
06:46Fall Army Worms have a cannibalistic behavior.
06:51The larger the harabas,
06:54the smaller the harabas.
06:58Until it is completely extinct.
07:04After the larva stage,
07:07they will go down to the ground to become pupae.
07:09They will go down to the ground to become pupae.
07:12And they will come out when a moth hatches.
07:16At this stage, they can lay eggs and reproduce.
07:20The entire life cycle of fall army worms
07:23lasts for almost a month.
07:26That's why they are so fast to reproduce.
07:30To stop their proliferation,
07:33predators such as birds and other insects help.
07:40The Department of Agriculture has a solution
07:44to control their proliferation,
07:47reproduction, or replacement of their crops.
07:50It cannot be controlled
07:52because the cultural management of the farmer is wrong.
07:55Our recommendation is that
07:57they should not farm for 3 years.
08:00But as you know, the farmer's goal is to earn money.
08:04We don't have other jobs.
08:07We don't have other crops.
08:10But if it's like other crops,
08:14it will cost a lot.
08:16We cannot afford to spend that much.
08:19The Government of the Genetically Modified Corn
08:24with Resistance to Fall Army Worms
08:27can also help to stop
08:30the proliferation of harabas.
08:33Even though they have a big belly,
08:36these small worms
08:39just want to eat and live.
08:45I hope the time will come
08:48when the number of harabas will have a balance
08:52with the help of biological control
08:55and predators
08:57so that they will not be able to reproduce.
09:00Thank you for watching Born to be Wild.
09:03For more stories about our environment,
09:07please subscribe to the JMA Public Affairs YouTube channel.
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