Farmers Urged to Prepare for Beet Army Worm

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) is advising farmers to get into preparation mode ahead of the beet army worm season, to effectively manage the pest.

Activities from the beet army worm typically increase between February and June each year.

Senior Plant Health and Food Safety Officer with RADA, Francine Webb, said despite the recent wind and rain helping to reduce the population, that does not mean it is time for farmers to relax their control methods.

“The population would take some time in creeping back up and so that gives you the opportunity to scope to see when the population is coming up. Now is when your pheromone trap would be useful, because that will help in letting you know when the population is increasing in the field,” she said.

In a recent interview with JIS News, Ms. Webb said acting early can result in a more targeted approach for pest management, resulting in safer methods.

“When you come in early you don’t necessarily have to use the most toxic of pesticides to get those numbers down. So scouting is going to be important. You have to be looking out to see when they come up, so that you can tackle it right away,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Webb is also encouraging farmers to be on the lookout for the presence of other pests and diseases.

Periods of heavy rainfall, especially in tropical climates, create the perfect conditions for diseases to develop.

Ms. Webb said acting early and being vigilant can save crops, particularly for insects and mites, because you want to see those before you actually do treatment.

“For the diseases, it’s a little different, as a number of the products that we have available are protectants and so they help in protecting the healthy leaves before the disease sets in,” she said.

“Those are going to be important to utilise now, even before you start seeing any spotting on your leaves. So, that’s going to be important to put on to be able to help in protecting the leaves going forward, in addition to a robust nutrition programme that will help our plants to recover as well,” she said.