the goan I network
MARGAO
Around mid-December last, a group of farmers from Nuvem had complained that their coconut plantations were hit by Rugose Spiralling Whitefly (RSW) “ a disease affecting the coconut tree leaves, wherein they turn white.
The effect of the disease on the coconut tree includes the decline in the yield and growth.
On January 20 last, the Chairman of the Nuvem Biodiversity Committee Jose Roque Andrade, an affected farmer, had dashed off a letter to the Agriculture Director and ICAR Goa on the spread of the RSW disease and urged for a solution.
Take note, while officials of the Agriculture Department, as well as ICAR, carried out inspections of the coconut plantations at Duncolim-Nuvem, Andrade says the farmers are at sea how to go about the treatment of the disease and save their plantations.
Andrade recalled that the ICAR officials, who visited and inspected his plantations late January end, had advised him not to use chemicals to control the disease, but to go for biological treatment.
Since then, Andrade, as well as other affected farmers, has not heard about anything from the authorities how to go about carrying out the treatment of the disease, fearing that any laxity in controlling it may only facilitate its spread across the villages.
Says Andrade: “My small coconut plantation at Nuvem on the banks of river Sal at Duncolim has been affected by the diseases. The trees have turned weak and there is a decline in the coconut yield. This pest/disease is spreading in the surrounding areas.”
Andrade recalled that in 2015-16, the coconut leaves had turned white and the same was brought to the notice of ICAR, Old Goa, by him through the Nuvem Panchayat. “The ICAR official, who inspected the site and studied the disease, based on which they released Bracon (predator insect) on the affected site,” he added.
Saying that biological method may be successful in the treatment of the disease, Andrade has urged the agricultural and ICAR officials to treat the issue on an urgent basis to prevent the coconut trees from deteriorating further and stop the spread of the diseases to nearby villages.
