New Delhi, Mar 23: Outbreak of a pest on sugarcane crop has sent alarm bells ringing in 'Krishi Bhawan' with nationwide alert being sounded to take up intensive monitoring and effective plant protection measures. According to the union agriculture ministry, 16 sugarcane growing states have been alerted on the outbreak of a pest, White Woolly Aphid (WWA) and a package of recommendations suggested for its effective control.


The ministry's directorate of plant protection, quarantine and storage, sent an advisory to the states after the reported presence of this pest in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal.

WWA is the main sugarcane pest in tropical Asian region including Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Japan and Korea besides its incidence in Pakistan and India. The advisory to states has directed them to take up removal and burning of affected leaves and crop residues in infested fields, judicious use of nitrogenous fertilisers and irrigation water and providing proper field drainage.


Other recommendations include use of fungal pathogens and predatory caterpillars that live on the pest, the use of insecticides like malathion, endosulfan, monocrotophos and acephate granules besides use of resistant varieties.
The presence of the pest was reported by the Central Integrated Pest Management Centre (CIPMC) at Faridabad during a special survey conducted in the second week of March 2003.
Sugarcane production in 2002-03 is pegged at 285.3 million tonnes, 4.91 per cent lower than last year's record 300 million tonnes.

Bureau Report