Studies find that a warming planet will change the nature of insect-crop interactions, making some regions more conducive for pest attacks, thereby impeding agricultural productivity and diminishing food security.
As published in Mongabay India on 7 May, 2024.
In September 2023, Rajesh Krishnan, farmer and CEO of the Thirunelly Agri Producer Company Ltd. in Wayanad, Kerala, noticed something strange in the region’s paddy crops. The crops began displaying onion-like shoots, leaving Krishnan and the other members of the FPO (farmer producer organisation) flummoxed by the unknown occurrence. “By the time we realised that something was wrong and got the regional agricultural station to intervene, we were already in the midst of a widespread pest attack,” Krishnan shares.
The onion shoot is a signature trait of the rice gall midge, a mosquito-like insect known to attack paddy crops. The pest has a short life cycle of 15-20 days and the affected tillers (grain-bearing branches) fail to produce paddy as the larva feeds on the growing shoot. Yield damages range around 30-40% of the crops, depending on the region. Apart from the onion shoot, the presence of deformed leaves and tube-like eggs are also symptoms of a gall midge infestation.
“Earlier, the main pests that we looked for were leafrollers and stem borers. We are all organic farmers and we use natural procedures to prevent an infestation by stem borers, which usually surface once every three or four years. Leafrollers are a regular feature, but they are manageable pests. We have never witnessed a gall midge attack on our farms, so we were completely unprepared for it,” explains Krishnan. He adds that the pest attack reduced their paddy yields by 50%.
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