The Hindu Business Line : Little-known pests proliferate in AP

Hyderabad April 3 Stem rot was a minor pest in paddy till recently. Not anymore. The fact that the pest attacked 45,000 hectares of paddy crop in East Godavari district in just three days shows how virulent it has become.

Many pests and diseases, hitherto considered to be minor or unknown, have threatened to attack almost all major crops in Andhra Pradesh.

"With the introduction of genetically modified crops, engineered for a specific trait, new pest problems are cropping up. We have to have a strong monitoring and surveillance system," officials of the Department of Agriculture said.

They cited the example of para wilt, a physiological disorder found in Bt cotton fields, particularly in chalka and sandy soils.

Scientists found that several farmers were losing cotton crop in Warangal, Khammam and Nalgonda districts due to this problem. "Three to five weeks of dry spell would make the plants with high metabolic rate (like Bt cotton) wilt," they said.

ADVICE TO FARMERS

Prof T. Ramesh Babu, senior entomologist with the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University, said almost all bolls in Bt cotton plants turned useful for the farmer. In case of dry spells, there was sudden stoppage of uptake of nutrients resulting in stunted growth.

"We are advising farmers not to go for cotton in the unsuitable lands," the officials said. The officials found that the incidence of bollworms saw a dip with the spread of Bt cotton. But the problem of sucking pests and other diseases has gone up significantly.

"If farmers want to grow Bt cotton, they should follow IPM (integrated pest management) to avoid attack of other pests and diseases," they pointed out.

With most of the farmers still not aware of specific traits of specific seeds, the Andhra Pradesh Government has mandated the seed companies to list those traits on the pouches.

The officials, who also observed similar pest and disease attacks in other crops, have decided to educate the farmers on how to identify the problem early.

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