Planters seek help to curb tea mosquito bug infestation

Udhagamandalam: The United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) has sought government intervention to curb infestation of tea mosquito bug (TMB).
Severe TMB infestation is threatening the tea industry in both south and north India, a press release from UPASI said. “The pest, considered a wet weather pest, which was earlier restricted to tea plantations in low-elevation areas, has now spread alarmingly to the high elevation tea plantations also, thereby causing severe damage to tea production, and threatening the stability of the industry,” said UPASI president Jeffry Rebello.
“The affected tea estates are spending more on pesticide application. However, the control is very poor due to lack of effective molecules available to control the pest. One possible reason could be resistance build up in the population of TMB, in spite of several rounds of application of these pesticides,” he said.
After the formation of the plant protection code (PPC) of Tea Board of India in 2014, many pesticides were removed from the approved list of PPC in order to produce tea safe and free from harmful pesticides. Currently in the recent PPC version of 14, only seven pesticides are approved for use in south India, said the release.
Entomologists of UPASI Tea Research Foundation have been evaluating the pesticides that are approved by the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIB & RC). UPASI has been representing the government for approval to use the chemicals in tea plantations, the release said.