PUDUKKOTTAI: The presence of fall armyworms in the country, whose invasion is yet to be traced, is in a way material evidence for a global shift in climatic boundaries, said Derek Scuffell, the CEO of Knowmatics, a firm “combining data, technology and science across industries to benefit the food value chain”.
Interacting with maize farmers as part of a recent workshop here jointly organised by a team led by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) principal scientist R Rajkumar and others, including Knowmatics, on using technology to combat fall armyworms, Scuffell sheds more light on the pest and its management with TNIE.
While fall armyworms, which are native to North America, are known to attack around 40 different crop varieties like paddy and maize, its invasion into India is yet to be traced, Scuffell said. "In all these years we don’t have much idea about the pest. It's like war, and we need to know where they are, and how they move and spread in the country.
As of now we are only guessing; we need actual intelligence on the pest," the visiting professor at The University of Reading said. Mentioning the tropical climate conditions of India as favouring the uncontrolled growth of fall armyworms, Scuffell said, “Up until the really significant global warming that is seen now, there were definite climatic boundaries.
It was like the world could be sliced into climate areas. But all of it is changing now, extending the range of a pest. That's how an invasive alien species like the fall armyworm could come in (to India). In a way, it is material evidence for the global shift in climatic boundaries.”
As part of efforts to gather “actual intelligence” on fall armyworms, attempts are being made to place sensors in large areas, like at a private agriculture college in Pudukkottai where ten digital pheromone traps that can be monitored through a mobile application have been set up, Scuffell said.
Pointing out the problems faced globally in the government gathering data, he also stressed the need for upholding ethics. “From handling pests to other aspects of sustainable agriculture a lot of data is needed. It has to be obtained following data ethics, where data is gathered only on an informed, need basis.”