GULBARGA: "Heliothis," which affects red gram crop, is likely to be a major source of concern for farmers in the district as the weather condition is suited for its proliferation.

Sources in the Agriculture Department told The Hindu here on Saturday that the weather condition in the region is conducive for the pest to multiply. If the cloudy weather along with occasional drizzles and warm humid climate continues, heliothis will breed at an alarming pace, they added.

The delayed onset of the monsoon this season and continuous rainfall in the district have worsened the situation for farmers, who had sown red gram in a record 3.56 lakh hectares of land, exceeding the target fixed by the Government at three lakh hectares.

Early sowing of red gram would have resulted in early flowering and harvest of the crop. But owing to delayed sowing this year, the crop has flowered only now, making it conducive for the pest to attack the crop.

Sources said the pest menace in Jewargi, Aland, Chincholi and Gulbarga taluks has crossed the economic threshold level, while the situation is alarming in the other major red gram-growing areas in the district. If the weather condition continues, the situation will go out of control, sources said.

The Agriculture Department, as a precautionary measure, has constituted seven teams in the district comprising scientists and entomologists from the University of Agricultural Sciences and the department to maintain vigil on the pest menace. Every week, the teams visit fields in the 10 taluks to take stock of the situation and recommend remedial measures to farmers.

Sources said farmers, in their zeal to eradicate the pest in the initial stages, are spraying pesticides such as "Indoxicarb" and "Spinocide," which help in wiping out heliothis but do not have any impact on other minor pests such as the pod-sucking bug.

The farmers, instead of using target pesticides, should use "Ovicides" and neem-based pesticides in the second phase of spraying while "Nuclear Polyhydro Virus" should be used in the third phase. Farmers should go in for target pesticides only after all these measures fail, sources said.

Subsidy

The department is also providing subsidy worth Rs. 28 crores to farmers in the district to purchase pesticides to control the pest.

The farmers are also being advised to use less pesticide and adopt practices to biologically control the pests. Parasites and farmer friendly pests should not be killed in indiscriminate spraying of chemical pesticides.

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