Lamongan Launches Coordinated Pest Control Across 19 Districts to Avert Harvest Failure

The Lamongan Regency Government in East Java has taken swift action to mitigate the threat of harvest failure by executing a synchronised Plant Pest Organism Control Movement (Gerdal OPT) targeting the brown planthopper (WBC) across 19 sub-districts on Wednesday (8/7). The pest control activity was centred in Banjarmadu Village, Karanggeneng District, utilising drone technology supplied by the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. This strategic measure aims to maintain the stability of rice production and preserve Lamongan’s status as a primary food barn for East Java. Lamongan Regent Yuhronur Efendi emphasised that simultaneous action is key to breaking the chain of brown planthopper spread, which has been identified as attacking agricultural land in the affected sub-districts. “Alhamdulillah, today an integrated pest control movement was carried out simultaneously in nineteen sub-districts in Lamongan. Because the brown planthopper has been detected in nineteen sub-districts, the control must also be conducted together,” said the Regent, who is familiarly known as Pak Yes. The effort is considered crucial given the vital role of Lamongan’s agricultural sector in national food security. The regency has a total agricultural land area of 103,483 hectares, comprising 95,745 hectares of raw paddy fields and 7,773 hectares of non-paddy fields. According to 2025 data from the East Java Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Lamongan is the top rice producer in the province, with production reaching 904,928 tonnes of milled dry grain. However, this achievement is now threatened by the pest outbreak. Field data from 1 June to 3 July 2026 indicated that the area under alert for brown planthopper attacks in Lamongan had reached 2,186.88 hectares, with pest populations ranging from 10 to 20 insects per clump. The 19 sub-districts targeted by the simultaneous control movement include Sugio, Karangbinangun, Glagah, Sukodadi, Laren, Karanggeneng, Lamongan, Tikung, Kembangbahu, Sarirejo, Kedungpring, Sekaran, Pucuk, Babat, Modo, Maduran, Turi, Kalitengah, and Deket. Also present at the event was a Special Advisor to the Vice Minister of Agriculture, Mujiburrahman, who stated that the central government is committed to continuously intervening in the agricultural sector through the provision of modern facilities and infrastructure, such as drones, to be optimally utilised by farmers in support of national food self-sufficiency.