The cashew crop in Pernem taluka has come under the grip of tea mosquito, an insect which has affected the cashew yield and the farmers have now raised concern over a huge loss in yield.
BY BHIVA P PARAB
PERNEM: The cashew crop in Pernem taluka has come under the grip of tea mosquito, an insect which has affected the cashew yield and the farmers have now raised concern over a huge loss in yield.
"I have suffered a total loss this year as far as the cashew crop is concerned, as the tea mosquito bug attacked my whole crop of cashew and the damage caused by the bug is over 80 per cent. I am expecting less than 20 per cent yield this season," said Mr Sandeep Nhanji, a farmer from Paliem village.
"The tea mosquito bug first attacked the Vengurla variety of cashew tree by damaging the immature nuts and after that the bug also spread to the gaonthi cashew trees and have caused damage to these trees also," he said and added, "Its really a bad season for me and government should give us compensation for the damage caused to the cashew crop."
"It had rained in winter and heavy dew had also fallen several times recently and these could be the reasons behind this large scale attack on the cashew trees by the tea mosquito bug," the cashew farmer added. "There are complaints from some farmers that the tea mosquito bug has attacked and damaged their cashew crop, however, some farmers are also satisfied with the crop and according to me this year it is a mixed performance of the cashew crop," said the Pernem zonal agriculture officer, Mr Joaquim D’Souza.
Mr Joaquim informed that the tea mosquito bug can cause yield reduction by damaging tender shoots, inflorescence and immature nuts at various stages of development. The climatic factors influence the cashew yield and the cloudy weather during flowering enhances scorching of flowers due to tea mosquito infestation and dew may have encouraged the production rate of the tea mosquito bug.
"This time of the year is the peak time for cashew and we used to collect some four to five tins of cashews daily, however, this year we are getting only one tin that too in two days and during the Shigmotsav period there was almost nothing on the cashew trees," said a farmer from Mopa, Mr Surya Naik.
