CHENNAI: Pollachi V Jayaraman (AIADMK) on Wednesday lamented that the scientists with the state and central governments have failed to invent pesticides to eliminate the whiteflies that destroy coconut trees.
Participating in the Assembly discussion on the demands for grants for the agriculture department on Wednesday, Jayaraman said the coconut growers have been advised to adopt unusual techniques such as applying maida, salt and neem cake mixture to coconut trees to control whiteflies. “Is this the way to protect coconut cultivation,” he asked.
Intervening, Agriculture Minister M R K Panneerselvam said research is currently going on to find a pesticide to eliminate whiteflies. “Research, in such cases, will take three to four years. The 10-year AIADMK rule failed to conduct this research.
Scientists from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, officials from the Horticulture department and agriculture students have conducted field inspections in Pollachi and Tiruppur where the whitefly attacks are widespread, and are implementing a solution for this,” he said.
To this, Pollachi Jayaraman said the government has made financial allocation for old methods to eliminate whiteflies. When the disease is new, a new medicine should be invented, he said.
“If the government fails to eliminate whiteflies now, coconut cultivation will be ruined totally. It is a now-or-never situation since coconut cultivation is being carried out across 16 lakh acres,” he added.
Agri S S Krishnamurthy (AIADMK) said the agriculture budget for 2021-22 stated that the cultivation area in Tamil Nadu would be increased from 60% to 75%. But contrary to this, the cultivation area which stood at 47.2% in 2020-21 came down to 46.90% in 2023-24, he said.
Similarly, the paddy yield which stood at 79.06 lakh tonnes in 2021-22 came down to 70.48 lakh metric tonnes in 2023-24. He also pointed out that the number of farmers receiving the PM Kisan assistance in Tamil Nadu has been very low compared to the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Kerala. He said the government should study why eligible farmers are still unable to get this fund.
C Saraswathi (BJP) urged the state government to release a white paper on how many water resource desilting works have been carried out. She urged the government to provide free inputs on organic farming to farmers.
V P Nagai Maali (CPM) said at present Rs 2,430 per quintal is being given for paddy and since the DMK’s electoral promise was to give Rs 2,500 per quintal, just by increasing the procurement price by Rs 70, the ruling party could fulfil its poll promise. Similarly, the DMK promised `4,000 per metric tonne of sugarcane and at present Rs 3,500 is being given. By hiking this by Rs 500 per MT, the DMK could fulfil this promise also, he said.
Poondi S Kalaivanan and K P Shankar (DMK) and Rama Karumanickam (Congress) also took part.