EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 16: A webinar on “Management Strategy of Fall Armyworm (FAW) in Jammu” was organized today by the Department of Agriculture Production & Farmers Welfare, Jammu in collaboration with Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) at Krishi Bhawan, Talab Tillo, Jammu.
The webinar was attended by more than 150 participants including Chief Agriculture Officers, DAOs, SDAOs, AEOs, Plant Doctors and other field functionaries of the Department of Agriculture Jammu. The objective of this programme was to sensitize the participants regarding Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices in a sustainable manner in the maize growing regions of Jammu division for the management of the FAW.
Joint Director Agriculture (Extension), Shahid Iqbal Sheikh welcomed the resource persons From CABI and deliberated on the purpose of the said Webinar.
Director of AP&FW, Jammu, KK Sharma outlined that plant protection is the major production factor in farming and FAW being an invasive pest needs to be managed at any cost. He stressed to devise an effective action plant against FAW. Plant Protection Officer, Davinder Sharma discussed the status of FAW in Jammu region and informed that there is 2.11 lakh hectare area under maize crop in Jammu which adds to the importance of this webinar. The resource persons from CABI included Dr Malvika Choudhary, Dr Manju Thakur, Dr Lena Durocher Gangar and Dr Vinod Pandit who is also Programme leader, CABI, South Asia.
The Webinar covered the topics like identification, use of different approaches for the management of FAW including bio-pesticides and locally-available natural bio control agents. The experts underlined the need to integrate cultural, mechanical, chemical and biological measures along with IPM to in managing FAW economically. The programme was followed by a brief question & answer session. The Webinar was coordinated by Programme officer, Sanjay Dhar and vote of thanks was presented by Incharge Plant Health Clinic Jammu, Arun Khajuria. |
