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Chilli under attack: New thrips species destroys farms in 6 states -Shagun

-Down to Earth

Farmers are being pushed to suicide amid market shortage  

Chilli farmers in Telangana’s Subakkapalli village, Bhopalapalli district, are living their worst nightmare. A new pest, black thrips (Thrips parvispinus), has destroyed over 40 hectares (ha) of standing crop in a matter of months.

In Sidduri Ravindra Rao’s farm, the initial signs of the attack were reported in the first week of December last year. He increased the frequency of pesticide spraying to three times a week from the recommended two times, but the entire crop on his 0.8 hectares farm perished within a week.

On December 15, he died by suicide. His brother Bhaskar Rao told Down To Earth that Ravindra was relying on this year’s produce to repay his loan of over Rs 20 lakh. “First, untimely heavy rainfall destroyed our crops. This season, we lost it to pest attacks,” he said.

Farmers in Jairam Thanda village in Warangal district also narrate similar stories. The black-coloured and pinhead-sized pest has ruined the entire 20 ha under chilli in the village.

Banath Venkamma, a chilli farmer from the village, says when he first saw the pest on his 0.4-ha farm, he contacted the local agriculture extension office, which recommended continuing with the existing pesticides.

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