Agriculture Dept. warns paddy farmers of three insect diseases

The Agriculture Department requests the farmers to pay close attention to three insect diseases that are currently spreading in paddy cultivation.

About 22,000 hectares of rice cultivation in several districts of the island have been affected by the three species of insects namely White Back Planthopper, Gray Plant Hopper and Leaf Curl worm.

Agriculture Department Director General Malathi Parasuraman said that all these insect damage can be prevented and by now the agriculture consultants in all areas as well as other officials have been informed in this regard. Also, special teams of agriculture officials have been deployed for field inspection.

The Director General stated that if these insects are present in their fields, they should immediately inform the officials of the Department of Agriculture and follow the instructions given by the agricultural consultants.

Do not apply insecticides that are inferior to the condition or follow the recommendations made by those who are not knowledgeable about this. Also, insecticides should not be mixed with other types.

Due to the ability to withstand harmful insect chemicals (Chemical Resistance), it will not be possible to achieve proper results by applying insecticides.

Therefore, the Director General mentioned that steps should be taken to apply only pesticides recommended by the Agriculture Department.

Currently, these diseases are reported in the Northern Province, Eastern Province and North Central Province.

Apart from this, the Fall Army worm is also reported to some extent in connection with maize cultivation. Therefore, it is necessary to check as much as possible in the cultivation field and destroy the worm cells, if any. The Agriculture Department also emphasizes that measures should be taken to control by using chemicals only if necessary.

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