Many a villagers hold firm onto the superstitious belief
that the outbreak of army worms (Spodoptera
spp.) is a bad omen or a fore-teller of some natural catastrophes. The crops that they have raised with
intensive care fall an utter victim to the notorious invasion by the army
worms.
With great difficulty, the army worms make a gradual ascend
up to the awns of wheat and barley, many find an enchanting dwelling on the
leaves of clover & some of the weed species. The gusty gales and the vigorous
hands that shake them down to the earth pose a challenge to their climb up the
slender stems to the top of the barley and wheat awns.
This warfare continuous until the farmer is tired of shaking
them down. He may be successful in dropping a few of them on the earthy mud or
less literally pick them up. But then his efforts becomes doomed as the other
generations peep through the slimy mass of eggs, give a vying crawl with their
fleshy stout legs, feed gregariously and voraciously on the crops that the farmers
have raised with utmost care and lumps of hopes.
In fact, everything in existence has a reason or the worms
as a living entity on the earth has its own right to inhabit the earth and to
amplify the species of their own type. They possess the right to continue their
generations as we the humans do. Neither do they bear any grudge towards our
existence and the domestication of crops.
On the other hand, we the humans having been a civilized
creature and a gluttonous feeder take the advantage of destroying their
temporary rented homes. We maliciously succumb them to death before they could
actually relish the taste of what is in store for them by the nature. Except
for a few lucky ones, many of them give way to the pesticidal sprays that the
farmers indiscriminately shower upon them.
We the humans are
clever and witty enough to formulate chemicals that could disrupt the normal
metabolism of these helpless creatures. And so they are. We the humans innovate
new things (chemicals) and accordingly do they evolve. A few species of them
develop resistance to the existing insecticidal sprays. On the other hand, the
susceptible ones die and are eradicated completely. This indeed provides ample
opportunity for the resistant ones to multiply rapidly and colonize the fields
with the crops of their interest.
This phenomenon, called the Pest Resurgence is the reason
behind our farmers complaining that the insecticidal sprays have little or no
effect on the insects. I empathize and express my sympathy to the farmers who
have incurred or are deemed to incur losses due to invasion by army worms and
minor damages due to other insects like beetles, bugs, sucking pests,weevils,
hairy caterpillars, etc.
Nevertheless, I am extremely glad that our Bhutanese farmers
have not opted for the indiscriminate use of insecticides as is prevalent in
India. This isn’t a trend as of now and it should not become one in the future
for the application of insecticides is often itself the cause of pests
outbreak. It rather augments the problem than providing a solution to it. This
is due to pest resurgence.
On top of that, it may lead to problems like the
pesticide residues which may cause many deleterious effects in our body. In
addition, it will curtail the opportunities of our products being accepted in
the international markets due to pesticide residues, which in fact should not
exceed the maximum residue level (MRL).
The use of pesticides isn't a hard and fast rule for pest
control. This is line with the fact that I have spotted many natural enemies or
predators that would gradually do wonder in keeping the pest number at levels
below those causing economic damage.
Among many, have I spotted the lady bird beetles of varying shades and
hue of red, dark red, brown and ashy grey with 5, 7 and 9 spots on their hardy
lustrous elytra. Though their strength is comparatively lesser than that of
pests, there is still a scope for us to mass multiply them in laboratories and
release them on inundative basis.
Also, have my eyes caught a glimpse of spiders of various
sizes and colours that are so absorbed in knitting their webs into immaculate
yet complex structures. So lucky a chap is he for he can get his prey or food
at ease in the trap that he has set.
However, my eyes might have missed some other natural
enemies as I am certain that several others might have been hovering around.
This is a mechanism that nature employs to maintain balance in the ecosystem.
However, intervention by humans becomes inevitable in certain cases in order to
meet the steeping demands of the ever increasing human population.
