Vol. 11, Issue 2 (2022)

Author(s):
Brajesh Kumar Namdev, Lavesh Chourasiya, Niraj Tripathi and Moni Thomas

Abstract:
Tomato is a cash crop, mostly grown by small and marginal farmers in Central India. Incidence of an unfamiliar invasive insect pest Tuta absoluta (Meyrick), created unrest among tomato growers for being unsuccessful in its management. This happened before they could recover from the recent financial shock due to the wide spread havoc incidence of Fall army worm on their maize crop. The incidence of T. absoluta was observed in field of all the 54 tomato growers surveyed. The yield loss varied from 48.40 to 100 percent. Pheromone and light traps installed in the farmers’ field helped to disrupt its mating and monitoring of the pest followed by application of contact insecticides. Field sanitation by collection and burning of infested fruits and plants also helped in managing the pest. The learning from the field was shared as advisory through social digital platform for faster and deeper penetration of the management strategy among the farming communities.