Nagpur: An SOS call by a distressed farmer from Bhandara district to Maharashtra minister Dattatraya Bharane has drawn attention to the worsening pest infestation crisis sweeping Vidarbha, where prolonged dry spells and a weak monsoon have triggered a surge in aphids, thrips and fungal diseases in standing paddy crops.Gurudev Buddhe, a farmer from Mohadi taluka, said repeated pesticide spraying had failed to contain infestation in his fields. “Aphids, thrips and leaf blight have spread across my fields despite two rounds of spraying. Most of my paddy crop could be wrecked,” Buddhe said.According to the farmer, a local political worker shared Bharane’s phone number with him after he raised concerns about crop damage. An audio clip of the conversation later went viral on social media.“Bharane told me to send him a text message and the number of the concerned officer. The same evening, by around 4pm, an agriculture department team came to my field and told me which medicine to apply,” Buddhe said.The incident reflects a wider crisis unfolding across Vidarbha’s paddy-growing districts, including Nagpur, Chandrapur, Bhandara, Gondia and Gadchiroli. Agriculture experts said deficient rainfall and extended dry spells have created ideal conditions for pests and diseases to multiply, threatening yields across the region.Kishore Zade, senior scientist at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Gadchiroli, said erratic rainfall had enabled sucking pests such as thrips and jassids to proliferate rapidly. “Long dry spells lead to higher mating and hatching of eggs of sucking pests like thrips and jassids, which are otherwise controlled by rain. With prolonged dry spells, swarms of pests are attacking fields,” Zade said.Agriculture department officials said crop losses exceeding 33% of normal yield are considered to have crossed the Economic Threshold Limit (ETL), with some pockets of Gondia district already reporting damage beyond that level. Department teams are carrying out field visits across affected areas, including remote villages in Gadchiroli, to advise farmers on appropriate pesticide use and measures to prevent further losses.
