Battle against rugose whiteflies intensified

Coimbatore: The district agriculture department has started distributing sticky yellow traps and eggs of chrysoperla, an parasitoid, as part of its activities to control rugose whitefly attack in coconut trees.
An official said they had already sprayed water to wash away the pest from coconut leaves. The department started the initiative in April. “We have completed spraying water on infested trees on around 19,734 hectares. We used tractor-mounted forcible water sprayers.”
Now, they are distributing sticky yellow traps and chrysoperla eggs. “We have got the traps, which are being distributed to farmers,” the official said.
Chrysoperla, he said, was a beneficial insect that would eat up whitefly, thus controlling its spread. “We would source the eggs from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, our bio-control laboratory, and another breeder in Trichy and supply them to farmers.”
Under the agriculture department’s integrated pest management scheme to control rugose whitefly, it would spend Rs 2,100 per hectare - Rs 1,000 on tractor-mounted water spray, Rs 800 on 20 yellow sticky traps and Rs 300 on 1,000 eggs of chrysoperla.
Under the scheme, the state had released a fund of Rs 5.25crore in April. Of this, the district was allotted Rs 4.144 crore, the highest share. The scheme would cover an area of 19,734 hectares in the district, of which most fall in Pollachi and Anamalai.