If monsoon weakens, beware of pests

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First, it was late and deficient monsoons. Then came the crop-destroying floods and resultant supply crunches. The El Nino scare is still very much on the horizon. As if these weren’t enough, experts have sounded an alarm that should the rains weaken, it might lead to the rise of pests that can substantially damage crops, raising specter of more shortages and price rise leading to spiralling of the dampner of the economy – inflation. The scare has been intensified with the weatherman indicating that this month might turn out to the driest August in the past 122 years. A dry spell can increase vulnerability to pest attacks, which can affect yield and/or push up expenditure for the cultivator. The rains have been described as 36% deficient till August 21. It wipes out the 5% excess precipitation in July. The dry spell during the current month has led to reports of soybean, groundnut and pulses suffering attacks of fungal diseases and by insects, said Tirth Shah, executive director, GSP Crop Science. “If the expected revival in rains fail to materialise, then cotton could be most vulnerable to pest attacks, closely followed by soybean and pulses,” said Shah. In the next few weeks, farmers in crucial kharif crop growing regions would be continuously looking upwards to the sky. The Business Standard has reported that cotton, paddy, and to some extent, pulses are vulnerable to pests and diseases if the monsoon remains patchy for the rest of the current season. The report also states that 38.8% of the irrigated area of the country is treated with pesticides. The figure for the unirrigated areas is 36.1%. However, the use of pesticides is not uniform for all crops. Cotton gets the highest use of pesticides followed by arhar, jute and paddy. The sale of insecticides and pesticides have been reported to be robust during the current kharif season. The cotton crops in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana and Rajasthan are extremely vulnerable to pest attacks if the rains play truant. Other crops that might suffer include soybean in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, groundnut in Gujarat and pules in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Rice in West Bengal, Jharkhand a Chhattisgarh, too, is exposed to this risk if the rains continue to falter. N K Rajavelu, CEO of crop protection business of Godrej Agrovet said that kharif crops can get impacted if the rains continue to be deficient. “There could also be chances of flower drops, failure of pollination and fruit set. The increased crop weed competition may further deteriorate the crop,” said Rajavelu. Right now, cotton, soybean, maize rice are in their flowering stage and they require optimal moisture levels, said Rajavelu. Therefore, he argued, the prolonged dry spell raises concerns. He also warned that in extreme cases of dryness, the crop can lose moisture entirely. Grape farmers in Nashik are also confronted with the dreadful possibility of drought that could eventually severely impact yield.