GUNTUR: The horticulture department officials and scientists are conducting field visits across the district to inspect the chilli crops and giving necessary instructions to the farmers. Due to the infestation of Thrips parvispinus in between October 2021 to February 2022, the crops were severely damaged affecting the produce and the quality and the farmers suffered severe losses.
Following this, the horticulture department has issued a management procedure for preventing thrips infestation.As part of this, a team of scientists from LAM and IIHR (Indian Institute of Horticulture Research), Bangalore along with the officials are conducting inspections to identify any infections at seeding and fruiting stages. They visited Ponnekallu,
Ravela, Manadapadu, and Siripuram, Anathavarappadu, Gottipadu, Girijavoluguntapalem villages in Tadikonda and Medikonduru, Prathipadu, Vattichekuru, and Pedanandipadu mandals in the district. They educated the farmers about various precautions to take. IIHR scientists Dr V Sridhar, Dr CH Singh, Dr P Naresh, LAM scientist Dr Vijaya Lakshmi, district horticulture officer Sujatha, and other officials were also present.