Workshop on maize cultivation tech, FAW mgmt organised by CropLife India

 

FAW is a destructive pest native to the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the Americas, having been found everywhere from South America to eastern and central North America.

 

It targets over an 80 different plants, including maize, rice, cotton, sugarcane, wheat and soybean, and has been particularly devastating in the maize-producing regions of Brazil, Africa and recently India.

 

FAW was first detected in India in July 2018 in the southern state of Karnataka, and is currently reported in 20 states in India, including West Bengal and North-East India.

 

In West Bengal, infestation with it was evident in certain pockets in North Bengal between end of April and early May 2019, and attacked selectively the younger plant - late sown, in February.

 

The damage was managed by the timely intervention of State Department of Agriculture. The state of West Bengal has about 2.5 lakh hectares of agricultural land under maize cultivation and are extensively promoting planting of Hb maize in moisture-stressed, low-yielding rice areas.

 

Asish Banerjee, minister of agriculture, Government of West Bengal, highlighted the rationale of this proactive step for farmers’ welfare, stating that the state agriculture department has been organising one-day training-cum-workshops for extension officers and farmers across the state.

“This has been an important step for ensuring rapid increase in the incomes of the farmers in West Bengal,” he added.

 

The first workshop, with CropLife India’s participation, was held at Balurghat, Dakshin Dinajpur, in August 2019, and was attended by over 400 farmers.

 

The second workshop was held in Rampurhat, Birbhum, because the state government was keen to aggressively expand cultivation of Hb Maize in the southern districts during the ensuing Rabi season.

 

This was aimed at meeting the growing demand of poultry and fish feed in the state and ensure remunerative price realisation by the farmers.

 

Pradip K Mazumdar, advisor to the West Bengal chief minister on agriculture and allied sectors, and member, Public Policy & Planning Board, West Bengal, said, “We could control FAW, and thus averted the possible devastation of crop during last season. This could be ensured by our officers of the agriculture directorate through timely action, viz., issuance of advisory, effective awareness campaigns, followed by readily arranging effective crop protection products during the vulnerable period.”

 

“CropLife India has been an industry partner for the dissemination of knowledge to farmers on the latest approved technology and best practices in integrated pest management,” he added.

 

Asitava Sen, chief executive officer, CropLife India, added, “Partnership between Government and industry is an effective way to provide the requisite technical knowledge to farmers in mitigating challenges of invasive pests such as FAW.”

 

“CropLife India members are committed towards promoting the safe and responsible use of latest crop protection technologies and best practices through industry stewardship initiatives and awareness generation amongst the farmers,” he added.

 

Sen said, “Keeping in view the need for effectively mitigating the emerging menace of FAW, CropLife India has constituted a multi-disciplinary Task Force, constituted from experts from its member companies, dedicated towards the management of FAW.”

 

“The Task Force is analysing and working towards a multi-thronged strategy to thwart the spread of FAW across affected states in India,” he added.

 

Discussions in the workshop revolved around Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in maize as also effective crop protection from seed to harvest, with particular focus on FAW management, and post-harvest care. About 500 farmers, extension officers, Panchayat functionaries and policy makers participated in the workshop.

 

Sen, Rajendra Deshmukh of Syngenta India, Vineet Singh of FMC Corporation, and Suhrid Barik of Corteva Agriscience made a comprehensive presentation titled The new invasive pest Fall Armyworm in Corn: Integrated Pest Management Practices at the workshop-cum-training.

 

In that presentation, the CropLife India team highlighted the origin, distribution, identification, lifecycle, invasion in different states of India, symptoms of damage caused by FAW in maize crop, and effective package of practices for timely prevention.