Order of the National Green Tribunal (Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata) in the matter of Srikanta Samanta Vs State of West Bengal dated 13/11/2024. The matter related to a dumping ground located near the southern boundary wall of the Nabagram Hiralal Pau College, Konnagar, Hooghly which is posing a serious environmental …
Red palm weevil is the most destructive pest of coconut. The adult weevil is reddish brown in colour with a life span of 70-130 days. The female weevil lays its eggs in soft tissues of young palms and in the wounds present on the stem or leaf stalk. The larval …
Ug99's symptoms are dark orange pustules on the stems and the leaves. Stems can be completely girdled by the pustules damaging the tissue and preventing grain fill. This can bring in yield losses of up to 70 per cent. The disease is so strong that it can even wipe out …
Even as the Union government is struggling to boost the country's agriculture extension system, pesticide and crop chemical manufacturers have joined hands with rural ngos to promote safe and judicious usage of pesticides among the farmers. Agrochemicals Promotion Group (apg), an apex industry body comprising over 200 crop protection companies …
Pineapple mealy bug is a major pest occurring wherever pineapple is grown. It is root feeding insect, yet some colonies are found on the basal portion of leaves and fruits. The pest sucks the sap and simultaneously injects saliva containing wilt virus, inflicting heavy losses. The first symptoms of the …
Pests, weeds, diseases take a toll on produce, says agriculture minister. The country is losing agricultural production worth Rs 1.48 lakh crore annually due to damage from pests, weeds and plant diseases, according to the Crop Care Foundation of India (CCFI). This reckoning is based on Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's …
Farmers' traditional methods for managing the potato late blight in the Meghalaya hills are successful examples of ecological disease management and an established outcome of traditional experimentations. Such farmers' wisdom ought to be given attention in formal research systems. Dec 2007
Meghalaya, a small state in the North Eastern region of India, is inhabited by different indigenous communities, mainly of Mongoloid origin. Of the approximately 2.3 million population, about 85 percent live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Due to physiographic features, shifting cultivation and Bun cultivation …
Authorities in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in the northeast have appealed for international aid following the destruction of thousands of hectares of pasture and farmland by a locust infestation. "We issued an appeal for help on September 23; Puntland alone cannot deal with this,' Hassan Arab, the deputy …
a group of Australian scientists has started the complete genome sequencing of bollworm, world's worst agricultural pest. It inflicts an annual damage of us $5 billion on farmers worldwide. Phill Batterham of Melbourne's Bio 21 Institute is leading the programme. According to Batterham, "We need to fight the pest more …
Environmental pollution is not the only problem with pesticides. Pests develop resistance to synthetic pesticides, making it necessary to constantly develop newer and more powerful (hence more costly) pesticides. What's worse, pesticides are more damaging to friendly insects and natural predators of pests; pesticide use strengthens pests. This vicious cycle …
a project to develop peas with pest-resistance induced through genetic changes has been given up after tests on mice showed allergic lung damage. Scientists at Australia's Common wealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation had taken a gene from the bean plant and transferred it into peas. The gene expresses a …
poplars in India, particularly exotic species, are highly susceptible to pest attacks, both in nurseries and plantations. A number of indigenous species, too, are soft targets to insect attacks. This has often led to serious economic losses, especially when more than half of the foliage is lost. So far, about …
cotton production in Punjab is likely to suffer if farmers do not take remedial measures against whitefly pests that were detected recently. Regular surveys carried out by entomologists of the Punjab Agriculture University (pau) have revealed a high build-up of whitefly pests in cotton in the state. Scientists have advised …
the harmless natural oil that gives peaches their perfume can also be used as a pesticide, scientists working for the us government have found. The oil kills fungus and other pests in the soil and could replace methyl bromide, a widely used pesticide that is toxic to humans and harms …
Farmers have a largely unappreciated friend. It is the Bat. At the Annual Walnut Research Conference in Bodega Bay, California, USA, researchers said that bats help to keep the skies above farms free of insect pests. One example is the codling moth, which causes considerable harm to pear, apple and …
The popular image of termites as timber-munching pests needs to be overhauled. In tropical forests, the vast majority of termites do not conform to the stereotype, say researchers at the National History Museum in London. Instead, most termites eat rotting vegetation in the soil and nest underground. They may be …
SITKA spruce trees of Alaska are proving to be no more than sitting ducks for the budworm caterpillars that are munching their way through the forests. In the past five years, these caterpillars have affected as much as 40,000 hectares (ha) of sitka spruce. Ecologists are now blaming higher temperatures …
deodar defoliator ( Ectropis deodarae ), a forest pest has affected about one lakh cedar trees in Naganalli and Mihani ranges of Theog forest division of Shimla district, Himachal Pradesh ( hp ). An area of 60 hectares (ha) of cedar forests in Naganalli and 40 ha in Mihani had …
the grim reaper has had a successful harvest. Death has walked through the village on padded feet, as did the pests in the fields. The dying crop whispers a dirge for the body of Kaselte Sammiah, a poor cotton farmer who committed suicide in village Sitarampur of Parkal division in …
