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| Jammu Farmers beginning to adopt IPM techniques for giving boost to tomato production | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 30: In a bid to help farmers in increasing production of tomato scientists of the SKUAST(J) are engaged in tackling the menace of t omat o fruit borer disease.Experts believe that as far as tomato cultivation is concerned various areas in the Jammu r egion,especially the Akhnoor belt, has the p[ot ential of exporting tomatos to areas outside the state. Tomato fruit is known for various culinary and salad purposes. Some areas of Akhnoor such as Sohal, Badgal, Rakh Malal, Ajar Mahal, Narayana and Pahariwala are known for intensive cultivation of tomato and production of quality fruits. More than 600-700 acres of land is being cultivated under tomato fruits in Narayana and Pahariwala villages alone. Tomato crop is faced by the problem of tomato fruit borer that affects its cultivation, quality and requires heavy dosages of pesticides which are health hazards and uneconomical. The Division of Entomology has made non-chemical cultural control and habitat management which has changed the concept of farming in these villages. Several training programmes have been conducted in these villages and live demonstration given for management of these pests by installing pheromone traps. More than 500 traps have been installed in these twin villages.The farmers of the area are quite satisfied with the working of these traps which has resulted in 30-40 per cent more yield from tomato crop with minimum pesticide interventions. The pesticides sprays have come down from twelve to two (need based)s. Besides, the farmers were made aware of benefits of using eco-friendly pesticides like neem oil, viral (Ha NPV) and (BT) bacterial formulations.
These interventions have resulted in enthusiasm among all the villagers to bring more areas under cultivation and more and more people are taking up tomato cultivation. This is evident from the fact that more than 70 farmers from Narayana and Pahariwala participated in the training programme and were trained about the Integrated Pest Management practices wherein they were advised to ensure the safe and pesticide free tomato fruits. Farmers are in regular touch with the Division of Entomology to adopt new cultivation techniques which are farmers friendly. They are being regularly provided with technical know-how of cultivation, literatures and IPM interventions like pheromone traps etc.
In this connection, Dr. Uma Shankar, of SKUAST-Jammu under the ICAR sponsored HTMM-I (2.37) project has portrayed the importance of the Integrated Pest Management and non-chemicals methods like habitat manipulation through the use of border row crop (marigold) to trap the pest of tomato and encouraging the natural enemy fauna for suppressing the pest population in safe and pesticides free tomato production. He emphasised the farmers to adopt IPM practices step by step to increases their income resources and protect the environment from dangerous pesticides. The farmers expressed their desire that the university should organize more training programmes. |
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