Pests ruin paddy on 89,000 ha

DROUGHT conditions triggered a pest attack in 12 paddy growing districts of Orissa. The swarming caterpillars (Spodoptera mauritia) ruined crops on 89,000 hectares (ha) of the four million ha under paddy cultivation in the state. Sambalpur district was the worst affected; paddy crops on nearly 33,000 ha were destroyed by the pest, called leda poka in Orissa. In Malkangiri district, farms were also attacked by stem borer pests and bacterial leaf blight disease.

America bugged

Hotels, motels and even homes in the US are infested by bed bugs

Join the dots

Maps connect agro-chemicals to Parkinson's disease it is never easy to tell precisely how agro-chemicals and their combinations harm people. The data required--pesticide names, amounts applied, level of exposure, geography, to start with--makes it tedious and limits accuracy.

Do it when crops don't

But noose tightens

Endosulfan came close to being banned at the fourth meeting of the Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP). The meeting was held in Geneva from October 13 to 17. It saw 24 of the 28 countries vote for inclusion of endosulfan in the treaty's list of chemicals that need to be phased out. India and China refused to vote. India cited lack of evidence against endosulfan as the reason, while Sierra Leone abstained from voting without giving reason. Germany being the chair also abstained. The committee concluded

Stop endosulfan

Philippines House threatens zero budget for pesticides THE lower chamber of the Philippines' Congress has threatened to block funds to the agency that controls pesticide use in the country if it did not stop importing endosulfan. Endosulfan, a highly toxic chemical and a persistent organochlorine pesticide, is widely used in banana and pineapple farms in the archipelago.

Winds of change

Organic farm in California gets compensation for pesticide drift a california court awarded a us $1 million compensation to an organic farm whose culinary herbs were contaminated by pesticides drifting in from a neighbouring farm.

Farming made unprofitable

Poor support prices and costly agri inputs make a bad equation for farmers, Savvy Soumya Misra finds out

Mighty caterpillars

little did farmers in Maharashtra know, or ever expect, that the thousands of rupees they invested in their soybean crop would be lost to countless colonies of caterpillars. The losses have shaken the region's agricultural economy to the roots. Now, while discussing whether the pest attack was preventable, several allegations and counter allegations are being made and the blame shifts focus from

It's official now

Oregon shares first pesticides report after a nine-year political battle, the state of Oregon in the us has released its first accounting of pesticides use. Over 40 million pounds (18 million kgs) of pesticides, fumigants, herbicides and insecticides were used in the state's land and water bodies in 2007 alone.