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

other pests).
RICE AND ITS PESTS In rice, stem borer, brown plant hopper, gall midge are the main
insects causing damage to the crop in greater extent. Diseases like bacterial leaf
blight, sheath blight and gundhi bug were also reported. This is an important crop in
the sense that it provides food round the year. Being high rain fall area rice is the
most suited crop in the rainy season.
#B003 DATE:04/03 TEAM:HSS/ASK. Village Pitapalli. He has farm area of about 10 acres
land and farm has to fed 8 family members for about twelve months in the year as the
farm family is not doing any another job outside farm.
PRODUCTION HISTORY He grows Paddy, Bitter gourd, Cucumber, & Ridge gourd. Most
Important Crop for the family is Bitter gourd. In his family, paddy is grown since
more than 100 years, bitter gourd 30 years cucumber, 10 years and ridge gourd since
10-12 years.
BITTER GOURD CULTIVATION HISTORY Farmer started Bitter gourd cultivation for first
time in his villages. He brought cultivation aspects & seeds from nearby village
Kumarbasta. The farmer thought first time whether the crop will success or not & will
it be profitable or not. It performed very well, fruiting was very good with very
less pest attack. Bitter gourd cultivation became popular because the crop was more
profitable than other crops & all the farmers of their village started bitter gourd
cultivation Relative to the other crops grown round here, its great advantages are
the crop is more profitable because of good marketing facility. Disadvantages are
staking problem, Spraying problem, Irrigation problem, Semilooper pest problem.
BITTER GOURD PESTS Bitter gourd is attacked by Semilooper, Epilachna beetle, and
fruit fly but most serious is Semi looper known as Ghoda poko. Semi looper became
problem in bitter gourd crop since last 5 to 6 years. This pest affects when fruit is
bigger in size i.e. at the harvest stage. It cuts the edges of leaf lamina and bores
into fruits in case of bitter gourd crop. This pest caused highest damage in this
year in bitter gourd crop as a result fruiting was very less.
RIDGE GOURD PESTS In Ridge gourd Epilachna Beetle is a problem. Epilachna Beetle is a
problem in case of ridge gourd crop since last 4 to 5 years. Beetles feed voraciously
on leaf & flowers and make irregular patches. Its attack results low fruiting in the
plant.
CUCUMBER PESTS In cucumber Semilooper damages.
FRUIT FLY AS A PEST Fruit Flies cause damage to Bitter gourd - 2-3 %, Ridge gourd-4
to 5 % and Cucumber-5%. Fruit fly is causing damage since 4 to 5 years. Farmer comes
to know the first time from us about the nature of damage caused by fruit fly, its
infestation & its identification.
SERIOUSNESS OF FRUIT FLY ATTACK Relative to the other pests, around here, fruit fly
can be particularly bad in the sense that infestation cannot be identified easily. It
is bad because fruit fly infested fruits become unfit for consumption. It differs
from other pests from their damage symptom because in better gourd crop its
infestation can not be noticed from fruit surface, fruits start rotting & fall off
from plants .
FRUIT FLY ATTACK DEVELOPMENT When an attack develops and why it happens farmer does
not know. Its development is noticed during the month of March i.e. last month of
harvesting. Prevalence of fruit flies from year to year is not same in every year (he
correlates the extent of infestation with climatic condition). Pest attack is seen
more when cloudy weather & rainfall is more during the fruiting period.
IMFFI Semi-Structured Interview Survey - 43 of 66