Laddowal (Ludhiana), May 31
The cultivation of mentha, which was being projected by the state Agricultural Department as an alternative to wheat and paddy crop was facing a serious threat from insects and pests. As insecticides were proving of not much use, farmers in this district were facing huge losses.
Inquiries revealed that the farmers had been grappling with this menace for the last six years. The insecticides worked off and on. The trend was widespread on the Ludhiana-Pakhowal road as well as Ludhiana-Jalandhar road where the farmers were the worst affected. Farmers were anxious as several hectares of land which were to be used for the last season’s wheat crop or the coming paddy crop had been occupied by the mentha (pudina) as this crop promised huge returns.
The pest called ‘American sundi’, a larva was feeding voraciously on the foliage of these plants. A progressive farmer of Laddowal village, Mr Manjeet Singh, said that he had cultivated mentha on 150 acres of land and whole of his crop was affected by the attack. He said that the damage was so much that he was going to loose 40 per cent of his crop.
He further said that the crop was about to mature in next 15 days and the pest could not be controlled by the chemicals. He said that this was the same pest which had destroyed the crop in the cotton belt in this region. He said that he was spraying Endosulphan on the attacked crop but there was no effect on the pest which was still persistent.
Another farmer of Lalton village, Mr Gurmeet Singh, talking about the woes of the farmers, said the farmers had, after a long time, switched over to the mentha crop as new mentha oil plants had come up in the district. “We were lured by it because it was said that mentha was giving more production per acre as compared to the wheat. But we did not know that it would be attacked by this sundi.”
The farmers said that two types of larvae were seen on the leaves, which after feeding on the crop, created holes on the leaves thereby destroying the whole leaf. They said that in some cases the leaves of the whole plant were consumed by these pests.
Mr Manjeet Singh also said the farmers were switching over to mentha as it was a good crop for wheat -mentha intercropping and it provided green manuring to the fields which was otherwise becoming impossible for the farmers as they were not in position to leave fields without any crop for an year.
He also said,“We were now hoping that we would get good returns this time as the crop was quite good. But last month the attack of this pest was noticed by us. We sprayed so many chemicals but to no avail.”
Experts at Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, said it was very difficult to tell which was the pest attacking the crop without going to the fields. They said that it could be Semiluper, commonly known as ‘hari sundi’ or it can be American boll worm or ‘American sundi.’
According to Dr Darshan Singh, Head, Department of Entomology, the control of larva of American boll worm was very difficult as it was very hardy and had developed resistance to many chemical insecticides. He said that if the attack was controlled at egg stage then the results were as desired.
He said that as per the recommendations of the PAU, Endosulphan was quite helpful if used in recommended proportions and on the very young larvae. He said that the pest was very notorious and reports were there that it could not be controlled by the chemicals.
