Andhra Pradesh - Karimnagar   

Keeping pest at bay

Staff Reporter

KARIMNAGAR: In order to protect cotton crop from pest attack and also reduce excessive use of pesticide by farmers, the district administration has embarked upon a novel way of applying `tilak' to the stem of the plants! The drive is in collaboration with the Agriculture Department.

Wondering how the `tilak' will prevent pests from attacking the crop?

Well, the agriculture authorities say the `tilak' is actually a chemical mixed with pesticide and is applied to the stem of the plant at a tender age so that the crop will not come under attack. Farmers are advised to prepare the `tilak' by using `monochrotophos' and water in the ratio of 1:4.

How it works

The stem absorbs the chemical and kills pests such as white fly that normally attack the crop during the season. The `tilak' has to be applied every 15 to 20 days for effective results and high yield. Collector C. Parthasarathi told The Hindu on Saturday that the drive, which was launched on Friday, was scientific. It would help in effective control of pests using less pesticide, he said. Usually, pest attack would increase due to good rainfall. But with the chemical process pests would die as soon as they attacked the crop. He said agriculture officials would visit every village and educate farmers about the new method.

Incidentally, due to delay in the onset of monsoon, farmers in the district have taken to cotton, maize and red gram cultivation on a massive scale.

Cotton area up

The cropped area of cotton, which hitherto was some 66,000 hectares, has gone up to 1.25 lakh hectares. Likewise, in the case of maize, the cropped area has increased from 80,000 hectares to 1.36 lakh hectares.

In the case of red gram, the extent has increased to 36,000 hectares. Understandably, paddy cultivation has come down significantly.

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