Jorhat, Feb. 24: The inherent ability of insects to change to new host plants and restrictions on use of toxic chemicals after the implementation of the plant protection code from January 1 have resulted in an alarming increase in pest attacks on Assam's tea plantations.

Keeping in mind the "difficult times" the tea industry has been facing, the Tea Research Association (TRA), is organising a first-of-its-kind national seminar from Thursday.

The participants will exchange knowledge on recent advances in plant protection strategies and transfer of effective technologies on plant protection to the tea industry and develop strategies to cope up with the situation.

Several experts from the country and Thomas Henn, chairman of the technical committee on regulatory aspects of pesticide usage on tea in the European Union, will attend the two-day seminar.

There are instances of consignments of Indian tea being rejected by European countries, alleging that the tea is laced with toxic chemicals.

Director of Tea Research Association (TRA), N. Muraleedharan, today said several insects have been identified which earlier adapted to plants in the forests but have started attacking the tea bushes and tea planters were finding it difficult to deal with these.

"This is a very new trend and we are working on a few measures to deal with the new pests," the director of the world's oldest tea research station said, adding that increasing dry spells in the region may have triggered the pest attacks.

He said looper caterpillar and thrips are a few such insects which have been identified as new pests in tea bushes.

The Tocklai director said the problem for the planters to deal with these new pests have compounded with the implementation of the plant protection code by the Tea Board from January 1, with strict restrictions on using uncertified chemicals for plant protection.

"We have identified a few chemicals to deal with these pests but these are yet to be registered under the Central Insecticide Board for use in tea," Muraleedharan said.

Tocklai, he said, has also developed a few simple and inexpensive non-chemical strategies like light traps, yellow sticky traps et al to deal with these new pests.

"We are also working on sex pheromones theory of insects," he added.

Muraleedharan said Tocklai has been working on the benefits of local plants - mostly herbs and shrubs - which have insecticidal properties and could be used to deal with the pest attacks on tea bushes.

Moves were also afoot to take help from satellite imagery to detect pests in particular patches of tea gardens.

B.K. Barthakur, organising secretary of the National Seminar on Plant Protection in Tea, said the seminar is expected to find solutions to the new challenges being faced by the tea industry.

 

• Considerable amount of crop loss occurs in tea every year because of infestation by a wide variety of pests
• Demand for contaminant-free tea and the need to sustain productivity and quality have led to a movement towards organic tea cultivation
• The use of native bio-resources may act as alternatives to costly chemical inputs
• The national seminar will help brainstorming by leading scientists, tea growers, pesticide manufactures and developers of plant protection equipment
• The seminar is also expected to help draw a road map for the adoption of integrated pest management strategy by the tea industry