Guwahati: Swarming caterpillars have spread across nearly 2,400 hectares of paddy fields in flood-hit Charaideo and Sivasagar districts, damaging crops weeks before they enter the crucial flowering stage.While Sivasagar bore the worst and longest flood impact, the caterpillar infestation has been more severe in Charaideo, where around 1,600 hectares of paddy fields have been affected. In Sivasagar, nearly 750 hectares have been infested, agriculture officials said.“Swarming caterpillars can destroy paddy crops in vast areas overnight. This year, the attack has been particularly severe, because the flood carried bigger numbers of caterpillars into paddy fields,” said Rizvi Hazarika, district agriculture officer (in charge), Charaideo.The caterpillars generally feed on grass but move into paddy fields, where they can cause extensive damage. They have a life cycle of around 35-40 days and can multiply rapidly during this stage, posing a serious threat to standing crops, Hazarika said. “These swarming caterpillars are nocturnal and mainly eat paddy in the night hours,” he said.The agriculture department is monitoring the situation and has sprayed pesticides across nearly 500 hectares in Charaideo. As a traditional pest-control measure, farmers are also placing upright bamboo sticks in the fields to serve as resting and perching spots for birds, which can then feed on the caterpillars.“Earlier, the attacks were sporadic and scattered. This time, the caterpillars have concentrated in specific areas, causing extensive damage to paddy plots,” said Sivasagar district agriculture officer Amrit Kumar Saikia.Of the nearly 750 hectares of paddy fields reported to have been affected in Sivasagar, around 550 hectares are now under control, Saikia said. He added that post-flood caterpillar attacks in Sivasagar usually affect less than 100 hectares, making this year’s infestation nearly seven times larger.Agriculture officials said the caterpillars were likely being swept into fields from swamps, hills and forests. “We are using drones with the help of drone didis and community pesticide spraying to contain the damage. But this was an unprecedented attack, as big as the floods. Around 100 villages have been affected in Sivasagar district,” he added.Shaisab Saikia, a farmer at Namti Pathar village in Sivasagar’s Amguri area, said more than 20 hectares of paddy in Mahmora Pathar (paddy field) were devastated by the caterpillars last week. “The attacked seedlings have been almost completely eaten. The caterpillars vary in size and many swarm around a single seedling,” he said.
