Concerned with pest attack that causes diseases of paddy, the ICAR-KVK in West Garo Hills district has taken the initiative to help farmers with the technical knowhow to tackle the problem through Biointensive Intensive Pest Management (BIPM) techniques.
About 30 rice growers of Nengja Bolchugre village under Gambegre block were acquainted with BIPM at a training cum method demonstration to enhance paddy productivity held yesterday.
Scientist Dr Joyoshree Mahanta took the lead to teach the farmers on how to treat paddy seedlings with Umcomb, a biopesticide containing consortia of bio-agents ((Trichoderma, Pseudomonas, Beauveria, Metarhizium and Verticilium).
The seedlings were dipped in the solution of Umcomb for half an hour before transplanting in the main field, to suppress insect pests and diseases, improve plant growth and yield.
According to the KVK, farmers mostly grow paddy during the kharif season (June –August) in Garo Hills. From nursery to main field it is attacked by a number of insect pests and diseases leading to low productivity.
Hence good planning on scientific Integrated Pest Management (IPM) more particularly in biointensive programmes requires attention before planting, as any attempt to jump start IPM in the middle of a cropping season generally does not work, it said.
