File image of a plantation employee carrying gear to spray pesticides in a tea plantation in Tamil Nadu.
| Photo Credit: Ok. Ok. Mustafah
Amid rising temperatures and extended rainless durations due to local weather change, large-scale assaults of pests and illnesses in tea plantations throughout the nation have turn out to be worrisome for planters with an estimated annual crop loss of round 147 million kg, an business body mentioned on Saturday.
Tea Research Association, in its assertion, mentioned the income loss due to pest infestation in tea plantations is pegged at ₹2,865 crore per yr.
“Pest and diseases were present earlier, but it has aggravated over the last few years. In north India, the incidence of pest attacks was initially limited to a few areas in Dooars in West Bengal and the south bank of Assam, but has been spreading rapidly in other tea-growing regions of Cachar, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling and Terai over the last two decades,” TRA secretary Joydeep Phukan mentioned.
The main pests prevalent in north Indian tea plantations are tea mosquito bugs and looper caterpillars aside from thrips.
There has been additionally a rising incidence and unfold of termite infestation in northeast India, which is spreading to new areas, the TRA official mentioned.
The value of plant safety in tea plantations within the northern half of West Bengal and the northeast area of the nation has elevated manifold over the previous twenty years, reaching as excessive as ₹25,000 to ₹30,000 per hectare, the assertion mentioned.
According to TRA, this has had a “negative impact on the viability of operations” main to decrease exports and international competitiveness.
“Crop loss due to pest infestation in tea is estimated at 147 million kg per year, and in revenue, the loss is around ₹2,865 crore per year,” Mr. Phukan mentioned.
The tea business makes use of pesticides that are permitted by the Central Insecticides Board together with the rules issued by the Tea Board India via its Plant Protection Code and Good Agricultural Practices listed by the TRA.
“Currently, there are only seven pesticides which are approved for use in India by CIBRC (Central Insecticides Board & Registration Committee), making it difficult for tea growers to effectively control tea mosquito bugs and tea loopers,” the business body mentioned.
The availability of a “narrow range of limited chemicals has led to resistance build-up in pest populations”, Mr. Phukan mentioned, including that there are “restrictions on the use of pesticides in tea due to revision of MRLs (maximum residue levels) in the EU”.
Plant safety scientists at TRA have been evaluating a number of new molecules/ pesticides in opposition to the most important pests via merchandise out there with Indian pesticide producers and have submitted bio-efficacy and residue research to the CIB&RC, he claimed.
“Considering the huge crop loss due to tea mosquito bug and other major pests, the TRA, which is a public authority under the Department of Commerce, has requested the agriculture secretary to kindly intervene for allowing provisional approval under national exigency of some more pesticides for two years for the benefit of the tea growers,” Mr. Phukan added.
