SHILLONG, Sept 13: Minister in-charge Agriculture Banteidor Lyngdoh on Tuesday said analytical work on the samples of the bud rot, a disease affecting the arecanut plantation, collected is going on in the ICAR, Umiam for which a conclusive measure to solve the problem is awaited.

He was replying to a call attention notice tabled by Mawsynram legislator Himalaya Shangpliang, who have expressed concern over the government’s inaction to address the problems faced by the arecanut farmers due to the bud rot disease.

Lyngdoh informed that on August 22, a letter of confirmation was received from ICAR for NEH Region Umiam on deputing a team of 6 scientists headed by Dr S Hazarika, Principal Scientist, Soil Science for joint diagnostic visit to the affected areas of Umsawrang and Dangar under Mawsynram C&RD Block alongside the Directorate of Horticulture.

Accordingly, on August 29, a team of experts comprising of Soil Science Scientist, Sr Scientist Plant Pathology, Sr Scientist Plant Physiology, Entomologist and Environmental Science Scientist along with the officials of the department had made a joint diagnostic visit to the affected villages of Umsawrang and Dangar under Mawsynram C&RD Block with the officials of the Directorate of Horticulture, he said.

Earlier, on August 7 – 10, a team of officers from Directorate of Horticulture visited Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development (DASD), Calicut and IISR, Kasaragod Kerala and discussed the issue of bud rot.

He said that the government is deeply concerned about the welfare of the farmers in general and the arecanut farmers in particular.

“We have taken several steps to compensate the loss to the farmers through alternative planting material and innovative solutions to mitigate the effect of the bud rot disease,” the minister said.

He informed that the department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare under the fruit development scheme has sanctioned Rs. 6.27 crore for distribution of free planting material as an immediate relief for areas affected under arecanut plantation for the current year 2022-23.

The scheme is ready being implemented and it is expected to distribute three lakh two thousand four hundred numbers of banana suckers covering an area of 189 hectares, seventy three lakhs ninety five thousand number of pineapple suckers covering 170 hectares.

Besides these, the department has also kept provision for protection measures such as sprayer, biofungicides, biopesticides and so on which will be taken up post the monsoon.

He said the crops such as banana and pineapple are being distributed to the farmers depending on the location and suitability of the climatic conditions. These crops were specifically selected keeping in view the short gestation period as compared to arecanut and the need for farmers to find an immediate alternative to livelihood.

The minister said that the department is cognizant of the problem caused to the farmers by the bud rot disease which has affected the livelihood of many arecanut farmers in the state.

He said going forward the department will give its full support to the farmers of our state using modern technologies like drones and through providing planting materials and technical inputs.

With these the department has started the first ever pilot initiative of spraying Bordeaux mixture on arecanut plantation in Meghalaya to understand the feasibility and efficacy of it.

The pilot initiative was conducted in Umsawrang village, Mawsynram block, under East Khasi Hills district and Rongsingre in Chokpot block under South Garo Hills District.

The initiative was supported by MBMA along with the officers from the horticulture directorate. Several farmers in the pilot regions have expressed their satisfaction over the spraying of Bordeaux mixture and have requested similar assistance going forward.

However, as the monsoon started, it was not possible to take up further spraying on a large scale. Now that the monsoon will be over soon, the department will resume the spraying on a large scale, he said.

While in the pilot phase the drones were hired from Andhra Pradesh with assistance from inhouse pilots under MBMA, the government is now in the process of procuring better, high capacity drones which can spray more areas in lesser time as compared to the drones used in the pilot phase, he added.