Hyderabad, India
August 21, 2007
They are caterpillars that devour
crop plants and cause extensive loss to farmers. Helicoverpa
armigera, also known as the cotton bollworm or legume pod borer,
has been estimated to cause annual crop damage of up to US$ 2
billion globally with an additional cost of US$ 500 million on
insecticides for its management.
Interestingly, Helicoverpa armigera larvae (the caterpillar)
provide a priceless environmental service. It can be used to
produce a biopesticide that can be used to protect crops from
Helicoverpa armigera itself.
The International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has
given a modern twist to a traditional technology and has been
able to establish biopesticide production units in 76 villages
in India and 20 in Nepal in collaboration with national
agricultural research and extension systems and non-governmental
organizations, through a World Bank funded project. This project
proposal had won the World Bank's Development Marketplace Award
for 2005.
Farmers in villages in India and Nepal have been traditionally
shaking crop plants to dislodge Helicoverpa larvae. Using these
larvae for the multiplication of the Nucleo Polyhedrosis Virus
(NPV), a biopesticide that kills Helicoverpa, is the modern
twist that ICRISAT provided.
The technology for NPV production involves collecting the larvae
and feeding them with an NPV-infected diet till they die due to
infection. The NPV biopesticide is extracted from the dead
larvae, and can be sprayed on crops to manage Helicoverpa
attack.
With the high impact that the biopesticide, strengthened with
other eco-friendly activities, had in the 96 villages of India
and Nepal in the past two years, the farmers reduced the
spraying of chemical pesticide by 65% in cotton, 24% in
pigeonpea and 21% in chickpea, thereby reducing financial costs
to the farmers, and protecting the environment and crop-friendly
insects.
According to Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT,
through the biopesticide production project in India and Nepal
ICRISAT and partners have reached the know-how and do-how for
the production of an effective biopesticide to the hands of the
villagers. This enables the villagers to be self-sufficient in
meeting their needs for this biopesticide.
Dr GV Ranga Rao,
ICRISAT's Scientist working on integrated pest management, said
that this project not only provided the farmers an alternative
to chemical pesticides to deal with the Helicoverpa armigera
problem, but also enabled them to start the biopesticide
production in their villages.
The World Bank Marketplace Award enhanced the scope of the
project by funding the establishment of decentralized
biopesticide production units in 76 villages in India and 20 in
Nepal.
In addition to establishing the village level biopesticide
units, ICRISAT and partners trained 201 researchers and 983
farmers in India and Nepal on NPV production at the village
level and integrated pest management. |
|
