Sugarcane

In 2002 the South Indian sugarcane crop came under attack from woolly aphid for the first time. Thousands of acres were affected. Many farms lost their entire crop due to this infestation. The average yield fell from 40 tonnes to 10 tonnes per hectare. Organic farmers also suffered losses.

Shri Desai reports that in July 2005 his crop was also attacked. But it was immediately controlled by two natural predators, Micromus igorotus and Dipha aphidivora which appeared in great numbers and completely wiped out the aphid infestation. This he says was due to Agnihotra only. His yield of 35 tonnes per hectare was a very good result compared with other farms.

Farm of Shri Abhay Mutalik Desai
Sutakatti, Dist: Belgaum, Karnataka