India: Kerala on alert for tomato pest

Kerala Agricultural University is on the alert for tomato leaf miner tuta absoluta, which has been described by farm scientists as highly dangerous, capable of destroying infected plants if not detected early.

 

A scientist at the University’s bio-controls project said that the pest had not been detected in Kerala so far though there was a report from Kozhinjampara area in Palakkad district where tomato is grown extensively in three panchayats. A survey of the area did not yield any sign of the leaf miner, said the scientist. However, he said that scientists were on the lookout for any isolated case.

 

Director of the Bangalore-based National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources Abraham Vergese said that tuta absoluta had mostly been found in tomato in India. About 90 per cent of the cases have been in the particular crop. However, he said, it could also infect crops like brinjal and potato and had been found in these crops though on a smaller scale.

 

His advice to Kerala farmers is not to import saplings since Karnataka has already confirmed presence of the pest. He said that imported tomatoes should be randomly checked for infection and infected fruits destroyed. He also said that farmers should be trained to detect the symptoms of attack by tuta absoluta.

 

Deploying pheromone traps in all stages of the crop has been found effective against leaf miner.