Introduction
The golden apple snail, popularly known as "golden kuhol" [Pomacea canaliculata Lamarck], was introduced into the Philippines between 1982 and 1984. It came from South America (Brazil and Argentina) via Taiwan. Its high nutritive value as food for human beings and farm animals generated interest among both public and private sectors to propagate the production of this organism. However, a few years after its introduction, the golden apple snail became a major pest of rice.
Of the 3 million (M) hectares of rice lands in the Philippines, 1.2-1.6M hectares are infested with golden apple snail. In 1990, P212M was spent to control this pest. The first account that it had become a major pest was recorded in 1986 when about 300 hectares of irrigated rice farms in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) were heavily damaged. Since then, rice area infested with this pest has been increasing until it became a national menace.