In the lower hills of the Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh, white fly is destroying vegetable crops. The insect attack follows previous damage to local maize crops caused by the fall armyworm.
Additionally, the farmers claimed that the Agriculture Department have not yet visited their fields to monitor and assess the white fly invasion. According to information, the department had a severe shortage of technical field staff who could visit the fields and advise the farmers about pest attacks and control measures.
Vegetable farming is a lucrative industry in the district's lower hills. Okra, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, brinjal, cucumber, and ridged gourd are just a few of the seasonal vegetables grown by local farmers in these regions.
Farmers Vikram Singh and Balbir of Rit, Harnam Singh and Jaimal of Bassa-Pathania, Uttam Singh, Subhash Singh, and Ratan Singh of Kopra lamented that they had earlier suffered losses after fall armyworm damaged the maize crop and now white flies were ruining their vegetable plants, shattering their hopes to earn profit.
Suresh Pathania, head of the Kangra Bhartiya Kisan Union, claimed that the Agriculture Department has not taken any action to manage the pest. He continued that earlier, it had not supplied enough insecticides to control the fall armyworm.
White fly attacks had been reported to the department, according to Dr. Rahul Katoch, deputy director of the agriculture department in Palampur. “The state bio-control laboratories in Palampur and Nurpur have formed special technical field teams under the direction of the department. Teams will go to the fields to inform vegetable farmers of pest attacks. Experts would also recommend corrective measures to them,” he said.
Whiteflies have become an important pest in agriculture, particularly in open-field production. This is largely because of the long list of devastating plant viruses transmitted by them.
