Rice bug is a significant insect pest in a rice field. It can reduce the total yield by 30% during harvest if not given attention by farmers. The insect feeds on rice at the milking stage (30-35 days after planting depending on the rice variety) of the plant leaving empty rice grains during harvest. Thus the reduce in the total yield.

A cheaper cultural method of controlling rice bug practiced by some farmers all over the Philippines is by dipping a cloth to a female urine and place it in sticks or poles placed in the boundaries of the field. The urine should come from a female who has already undergone menstruation or if she is already in her menstruation period. Farmers recommended using a wife’s urine as it is more effective than using an unmarried woman’s urine. Still, the latter’s urine can be used as long as she is already in puberty.

The reason for this is that male rice bugs are attracted to the female hormones secreted by the female rice bags. This hormone is similar to the human female hormone, thus, the male hormones will be attracted to the cloth (dipped in the female urine and stuck on a stick or pole) that you have placed in the boundaries of the field. By daytime, the male rice bugs will be gathered around these traps and you can manually kill the male rice bugs. Without the male rice bugs, there wont be any agents to fertilize the female rice bugs. Thus, the rice bug population will be reduced and that you don’t have to spend on additional costs for pesticide application. I hope this information helps.

Tags: rice, rice bug