The International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) has developed a biopesticide for controlling the dreaded pod borer insect that causes extensive damage to several crops every years. | |
| The technology for the production of this pesticide is based on traditional knowledge and can be taught to the farmers. |
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| Pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera) is a very common pest found almost throughout the world and attacks nearly 200 crops, including cotton, pulses, cereals, vegetables and fruits. Global losses due to this pest are estimated at about $ 2 billion a year, with an additional $500 million spent on insecticides. |
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| Icrisat has developed a virus called nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) which has been found very effecting in managing pod borers on pigeonpea (tur or arhar) crop. This technology has won the World Bank's Development Marketplace Award for 2005. |
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| ICRISAT and its partner, the Center for World Solidarity (a Hyderabad-based non-governmental organisation working on integrated pest management), will receive a grant of $150,000, for establishing 100 community-based rural NPV production facilities in the country. |
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| The project's sustainability is based on the program to train villagers on NPV production and utilisation, and thus spread awareness on the use of biopesticides. |
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| The project will also establish knowledge hubs and share management systems to keep Helicoverpa under check. |
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| According to Icrisat sources, the NPV production technology builds on the traditional farmers' practice of vigorously shaking pigeonpea plants to dislodge caterpillars (Helicoverpa larvae) and collect to use them for multiplication of the virus. |
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| The technology for NPV production involves collecting the larvae and feeding them with an NPV-infected diet till they die due to the infection. The NPV biopesticide is extracted from the dead larvae and can be sprayed on crops to prevent Helicoverpa attack. |
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| Icrisat scientist G V Ranga Rao, who headed the project for evolving this technology, maintains that this cost-effective and eco-friendly method reduces the pod borer infestation by up to 85 per cent. NPV infection causes heavy mortality in pod borers without any adverse impact on non-target organisms. |
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| The Institute has already addressed problems related to mass production, storage and utilisation of the virus. A package of virus application timings is ready for dissemination. |
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