Insects feast on vegetable crops 

The insects are black in colour and measuring less than an inch in length, said Gayadhar Dhal, district secretary of Krusak Sabha.

KENDRAPARA: Large tracts of saplings of rabi crops such as black grams, green grams and vegetables have been damaged due to invasion of ‘kalimundi’ insects which have  ruined the economy of thousands of villages of Pattamundai, Garadapur, Rajkanika, Aul, Derabishi  Rajanagar and Mahakalapada blocks of the district.A large number of farmers had sown black grams and green grams on their lands. But the insects damaged their rabi crops. Help from the administration, however, is yet to reach the villagers, more than one week after the first swarm of insects arrived here to ruin this year’s black grams, green grams and vegetable crops on large tracts of fields. 

The insects are black in colour and measuring less than an inch in length, said Gayadhar Dhal, district secretary of Krusak Sabha. Most of the crops have been destroyed in the area. The farmers, who could afford the costly fight against the pests, now hope to reap less than one-eighth of their usual harvest. The first batch of pests arrived last month, said Dhal.

Field after field in villages of Raghudeipur, Belarapur, Bhujabala, Netua and  Nolasahi turned white from their usual leafy green.“I raised tomato over an acre of land. But the pests have damaged most of the tomato,” said Parikhita Mallick of Bharatapur.

The villagers are upset by the lack of response from the administration. Several pleas have been made before officials to take action but no official has turned up till date, said Uchaba Barik, a farmer of Nolasahi.

“The district agriculture officials have been paying only lip service to our problems by not providing pesticides to the affected farmers,” said Manas Sahoo,  a farmer of Raghudeipur. “We have directed all the block level agricultural officers to submit a report after visiting the insect-affected fields and after getting the report, we will  help the farmers,” said Mitrodoya  Das,  Deputy Director of Agricultural department in Kendrapara. 

“Pest problem is not an alarming situation at present in the district. It has not crossed the economic threshold limit,” he said. “To avoid further spread of the pests, the   farmers should keep frequent watch on the crop. The rabi crop growers can stop spread of the pest attack by sprinkling prescribed pesticides. We are organising  awareness camps in the villages and training farmers to use prescribed pesticides properly,” Das said.

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