Union minister Shivraj Chouhan on Friday ordered setting up a task force of experts following reports of damage to crops due to ‘litchi stink bug’.
The decision was taken after farmers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar met him and claimed huge losses to their produce. The ‘litchi stink bug’, a major agricultural pest, feed on sap, causing fruit drop and dried, damaged shoots.
According to a case study done by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), threats from this pest are so serious that it has the potential to completely eliminate litchi cultivation.
Generally, low incidence of litchi stink bug had been recorded from different regions of India. The occurrence of this bug has comparatively increased in recent years in Bihar, it said.
In a statement, Chouhan said the special task force will visit the affected areas and submit a report along with recommendations within a week for remedial measures. The director of the ICAR-National Research Centre (NRC) on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, has been appointed as the chairperson of the panel.
An order issued by the ICAR-NRC said that the task force will assess the current situation related to the litchi stink bug, visit affected regions, scientifically study crop losses, and suggest both immediate and long-term measures to provide relief to farmers.
Experts believe an action plan similar to managing Covid-19 pandemic is required for stink bug to save litchi orchards in Bihar and livelihood of litchi farmers.
They say like ‘mass vaccination’ against the pandemic, we need to have wide area management through “mass insecticidal spray” or “community spray” for all the orchards in the identified containment zone.
Bihar is India’s largest producer of litchi, contributing over 40-70 per cent of the country’s total production. Approximately 3,00,000 metric tons of ‘Shahi litchi’ are produced annually across an area of over 32,000 hectares, primarily in Muzaffarpur and northern Bihar districts such as Vaishali, Champaran, and Samastipur. The fruit is typically marketed in May-June.
