DHARMAPURI: The horticulture department and farmers expect the price of mangoes to go up as 150 acre of orchards across Dharmapuri have been infested by pests and yield may halve due to this.
To help mango cultivators crippled by pest infestation, scientists and experts have recommended new plant additives, supplements and pesticides as well as the right methods of use as countermeasures that could potentially reverse the impacts, after two weeks of study.
Dharmapuri is one of the largest producers of mangoes in the Western region. The district has a total of 15,000 hectares under mango cultivation and by rough estimates, each hectare would produce about 10 tonne of mangoes.
On average in a year, the district reaps a yield of 1.5 lakh metric tonne of the fruit, according to department sources. A horticulture official said, but this year we estimate 50% loss in yield and production to be between 75,000 MT - 1,00,00 MT only. So, the prices may increase this year, he said. Over the past few months, seasonal impacts and pest attacks caused primarily by two insects -- leafhopper and Thrips -- impaired mango trees from being able to produce flowers.
K Saravanan, a cultivator from Manjavadi on the impact said, "Nearly 150-acre worth of orchards has been affected by pest attacks. These insects eat away the leaves from new branches and hamper the photosynthesis process. As the new branches fail to get sunlight, the flowers wither shortly after they bloom. Everyone knows fruits come from flowers. We face massive losses due to this situation and is extremely disheartening to farmers."
The horticulture official said, usually, rain stops by mid-November in Dharmapuri. However, last year, rain lashed the district till December which resulted in the late-blooming of flowers, he said. Further, rains in February became favourable for pests to grow, disrupting mango production, he added.
To tackle this, the horticulture department had invited scientists, plant pathologists and entomologists to investigate and issue countermeasures. Scientists issued a list of recommendations for farmers and instructed the department to implement them to recover mango orchards.
On the control measures recommended by the scientists the department official said, the damage is done, but we would be prepared for any such situation. This year, the control measures would provide an off-season harvest that could be equally beneficial for farmers, he said.
G Malini, Deputy Director of Horticulture said, "A few weeks ago, we had invited Dr SK Manoranjitham, Plant Pathologist and Dr T Elaiyaharathi, Entomologist to investigate the fields. In their observation, they had found that there was a large infestation of leafhoppers. An invasive species - 'thrips' - that blocks nutrients to plants was also found here. Both these insects thrived due to favourable climatic factors."
"Scientists found farmers had not taken any control measures or used excessive pesticides and insecticides to get rid of the infestation that directly damaged the trees. For each of the observations, we have been recommended a certain countermeasure. Using these countermeasures, we can rid the infestation and also recover damaged trees. The horticulture department is coordinating with farmers and taking efforts to eradicate these invasive pests, and will take steps to procure the pesticides to aid farmers," she added.