COIMBATORE: Increasing whitefly (Rugose spiraling whitefly) attack on coconut trees, after a gap of two years, in Pollachi, Kinathukadavu and Anaimalai taluks of Coimbatore district has left farmers worried.
A Karthik Krishnan, a farmer from Kuttigoundenpathi in Kinathukadavu taluk said, “Farmers were the worst hit by whitefly attack a few years ago, especially before the Covid-19 pandemic.
This was followed by root wilt disease, which began infecting coconut trees in the region. So far, we have no solution to control root wilt disease, and the yield of coconut has decreased unprecedentedly. For this reason, coconut price has stood at `40 per piece at Farm Gate currently.”
“The spread of whitefly will be reduced after 2023 due to harsh summer and subsequent rainfall in the last two years. Now, the spread of whiteflies has rapidly increased in most fields from September.
The whitefly sucks out the sap from under the leaves, and the host plant loses all its water content and nutrients. This soot mould hits the sapling’s photosynthetic efficiency. The attack has been witnessed severely on trees that are younger than four years,” he added.
T Rathina Sabapathi, a farmer from Pollachi, said, “The flies live below the lead and stem. While farmers can splash water on the affected parts, as that is the prescribed method, this does not control the spread of the infestation. Further, this method is not viable for the farmers. As there is no prescribed medicine, farmers are clueless about how to control the spread of whitefly infestation.”
A senior official from the agricultural department in Coimbatore said, “We have identified the spread in recent days. The department has planned to discuss the matter in the meeting to be participated by agri scientists from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University soon. Meanwhile, the farmers have been asked to spray a solution, which consists of water with 5 ml of neem oil or 2 ml of azadirachtin and soup mixer, on the bottom of the leaf to control the spread.”
It may be noted that in case of whitefly attack, flies measuring about 2mm suck out sap from under the leaves.