“Key Informant Survey” of Production, Value, Losses and ... - DfID

fruit borer, little leaf (a mycoplasma disease) in brinjal.
BRINJAL PEST CONTROL He said there is no pest-wise strategy. However according to
him, spraying of insecticides is best to reduce the pest pressure quickly. He sprayed
endosulfan, dichlorvos, dimethoate as per advised by pesticide shop keeper.
#A003 DATE:3/10/03 TEAM RCJ/DBS Village Parsotaj, Dist. Kheda - small gourd village.
He is a medium farmer, has 2.5ha total land, out of which he is growing small gourd
in 1.25ha. He has 10 family members and all are engaged in farming activity.
CROPS He is growing small gourd, bajra and Fenugreek.
SMALL GOURD He is growing local variety of small gourd since 20 years. He started
growing crop by seeing other farmers who were growing small gourd and earning more
from small gourd cultivation as compared to other crops. He also said that this crop
gives remuneration up to 10 months. It is just like a buffalo, keeping which gives
milk every day and thereby earning up to 10 months. He said there is minimum
requirement of insecticides and no other agricultural operations viz., threshing,
harvesting, winnowing etc., hence this crop is good.
SMALL GOURD PESTS Since 15 years, he is facing the problem of fruit fly, fruit borer
and aphid attack in small gourd.
FRUIT FLY He said due to fruit fly infestation, 25-30% fruits get damaged and lost.
He knows that this pest causes direct damage to fruit. He further added, due to
increase in temperature during April-May, the infestation of this pest increases.
When we asked about reason for such condition, he said it is not in our hand, it
depends on power of the God. According to him every year problem of this pest remain
more or less same.
FRUIT FLY CONTROL He knows two approaches of fruit fly control:
FRUIT FLY CONTROL: SPRAYS (i) Spraying of insecticides: He knows this method since he
started cultivating small gourd. He has sprayed, Rogor (dimethoate) for the control
of this pest and got the good results.
FRUIT FLY CONTROL: TRAPS (ii) Sex pheromone traps: He had also hung the methyl
eugenol traps last year in the pandal. He used Methyl eugenol 5-10 drops and 5 drops
of DDVP incorporated in the cotton swab and placed inside the plastic bottle/empty
container. He said since 2-3 years, he is using this traps, however every year he is
not using the traps. {This year he has not put up his own trap. We have conducted the
experiment in his farm and he is happy with the results.}
FRUIT BORER He said particularly during August-September this pest is a headache for
him. It directly feeds on fruits and leaves. According to him, one larva can bore
into more than one fruits and can causes damage up to 30-40% in two months. For the
control of this pest, he sprayed insecticides viz., dimethoate (Rogor), monocrotophos
and endosulfan.
APHID He said during the earlier period (means immediately after planting) this pest
("Molo" which is local name of aphid) attacks his crop. It means when new
creepers/vines climb up on pandal during February-March, aphid attacks the crop. He
used to spray Rogor (dimethoate) which reduce the aphid attack.
BAJRA He said this crop is staple food for him. He is growing bajra two times, i.e.
in summer and kharif/monsoon season of a year. Grains are utilized for family
consumption, while fodder is utilized for his cattle and buffaloes. He said that he
prepares "Rotalo" (local name of chapatti) out of flour. The family member eat Rotalo
with cooked vegetables. {John S also tasted "Rotalo" prepared by a girl from Bajra
IMFFI Semi-Structured Interview Survey - 7 of 66