CHENNAI: Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister M R K Panneerselvam on Thursday said that of the 12 lakh acres where coconut cultivation is carried out in Tamil Nadu, 1.9 lakh acres has been affected by the rugose spiraling whitefly infestation, which has become a major issue for coconut farmers.
He provided the figures during the discussion on the demands for grants for his department in the Assembly on Thursday, as many MLAs had raised this issue on Wednesday.
The minister emphasised that only natural and integrated pest management methods can effectively control the whitefly infestation and highlighted the advisory of the union government’s Department of Agriculture, asking farmers not to use chemical pesticides, as their use could further escalate whitefly population.
Panneerselvam said 330 awareness camps on the matter have been conducted across districts.
He said a joint field study was conducted by scientists from the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) in Kasaragod, Kerala, along with experts from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and officials from the Horticulture Department. Based on their findings, several control measures were implemented last year, which helped contain the infestation.
He said researches have shown that installing light traps (one per hectare), using yellow sticky traps (20 per acre), releasing encarsia parasitoids (100 per plantation), deploying green lacewing insects (apertochrysa) (400 per acre), spraying a 0.5% neem oil solution, power-spraying water under coconut leaves are effective measures to control whiteflies.
Meanwhile, responding to Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami regarding the minimum support price for paddy and sugarcane, the minister assured that the state would meet the demand of paying Rs 2,500 per quintal for paddy and Rs 4,000 per tonne for sugarcane this year.