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

isk of complete failure of crop. Amalsad Co-operative Society is good for marketing
also.
CHIKU PESTS Up to last 3 - 4 years, there was not that much problem of insect pests
as well as disease in chiku. But nowadays bud borer, seed borer and fruit flies
causes heavy damage.
BUD BORER A very destructive insect, feeds on flower buds and leaves also. Damaged
buds dry and fall down. No fruit setting. It may be major problem at time of
flowering that is in October. They are spraying the insecticide recommended by Agril.
Scientist Dr. P.R. Patel. He mentioned only monocrotofos and was unable to list out
all. He got very good results with these insecticides.
FRUIT FLY A/C to his view, this pest is prevalent in this area from chiku
cultivation. It is causing heavy damage in April to May. He thought it might be due
to raising temperature. 25 to 35 percent losses caused due to pest, damaging fruits
which are ready to harvest. He said that infestation is increasing every year. He is
not doing any management practices in chiku. He thinks that if they are using fruit
fly traps on their farm flies come from adjacent untreated farms. It is necessary to
use traps on all farms. {It seems chiku is blamed for infesting mango, rather than
vice-versa, because the chiku is more constantly-bearing and so keeps the fly
population available throughout the year.}
MANGO He is growing mango since last 10 to 12 years (c. 1992?). Mango is labourless,
high yielding and good market crop. So they start to grow it. He said that it
performs very well. As it is good cash crop, but fruit fly is a major problem now
days.
PESTS He listed fruit fly, jassids, shoot borer.
FRUIT FLY He said the fruit fly problem started in our area with chiku cultivation.
Before that we got healthy fruits. It is major problem in March to April, coinciding
with fruit maturity. He adds that they don't know anything regarding development of
fruit fly. He said that 50 to 60% fruit affected. Fruit fly shifted from chiku to
mango.
MANAGEMENT: FRUIT FLY TRAP They are using since last 5 to 7 years. Co-operative
society gives the attracting solution free of cost and we are applying 10 to 20 drops
of solution per trap, recharge them 20 - 25 days. Traps are very good method. No
problems. But it is necessary to use by all farmers.
TULSI He said that tulsi plants also attract fruit fly. Previously they were growing
tulsi but nowadays they get ready-made attractant solution. But also he thinks to
grow tulsi this year. It is good method. {The mixture of both tulsi and ready-made
attractant is explained in that attractant is distributed by society and doesn't
arrive in time - usually early May - a bit too late; so tulsi home-grown is used to
hold the population off and down until the deliveries arrive}.
JASSIDS It sucks the cell sap from flower & there is complete deflowering. But it is
controlled totally with insecticidal spray like endosulfan, neucron, monocrotofos.
BITTER GOURD They are growing b. gourd from next year mixed in chiku orchard for home
purpose. He said that they will spray crop with same as chiku but no special mgt.
practice is done. Because it is on small scale - home purpose only. He mentioned, he
doesn't know fruit fly damaging to b. gourd but there is unknown damage.
#G002 DATE:18/09/03 TEAM: ZPP/VSJ Village Khergam.
CHIKU He is growing Chiku, Mango, Bitter gourd, Small gourd. He is growing chiku
IMFFI Semi-Structured Interview Survey - 21 of 66