"Many of the caterpillars also attacked mango trees in some areas," head of the agency Aris Budiono said here Wednesday.
He said the areas where the caterpillars had spread included Kendal, Demak, Kudus, Pemalang, Pekalongan and Semarang regencies, while the heavest attack took place in Pemalang.
He said one of the causes of the caterpillar spead was the lack of the natural predators of the organism, and worsened by weather anomalies.
The effective control of the spread of the caterpillars, he said, had been the spraying of strong insecticides.
"Another effective way would be burning, cutting tree branches attacked by caterpillars, or picking up one by one and destroy them," he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
