Firdous Parray
TRAL, Aug 7: The paddy fields damaged due to unknown disease in Amirabad area of Tral in South Kashmir.
Haji Mohd Afzal Mir, a local farmer, says that it has been observed that the disease appears in the grain crops in the area. “The grains after coming out from the paddy saplings, they are turning into white themselves,” Mir states.
Paddy cultivation is the only crop that shows loss in every situation. “The cultivation not only need man power but the financial support too, but when we look at the time of cultivation, paddy is shown loss,” Mir claims.
Abdul Rehman Dar another farmer who bought the seedlings from the Agriculture department from last two years, but this year the seedlings start whitening themselves due to which the farmers are worried. “We were using traditional paddy varieties, which yielded good results, but from two year’s we opted for the variety being distributed by the agriculture department but this year the crops got affected on early stage,” Dar said.
The Joint Director Agriculture Kashmir, Sartaj Ahmad Shah today visited Amirabad Hamlet in Tral along with the team of scientists from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Malangpora, Pulwama and Mountain Research Centre for Field Crops (MRCFC), Khudwani and local staff of Agriculture department.
“We recieved the complaint of crop damages in Tral, so we visited here to assess the situation,” Shah told.
Bashir Ahmad Rather, an Entomologist in the Agriculture department, has collected the samples from the damaged paddy fields.
“Our team have collected the samples for examining thoroughly to ascertain the actual cause of crop damage, ” Shah told.
Based on the lab reports, Shah further said, the concerned department will advise farmers regarding the insecticide to be sprayed to protect the crops from any damage.
Shah also said that the department is distributing nearly 10,000 of seedlings in the Valley. But our department has received this kind of complaint from this area only, so there is no issue or disease with the seedlings. However, people are advised not to be panic.
