Cane scourge may meet a natural death

SANGLI: Researchers at the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) seem to have decided to fight fire with fire, when faced with the state''s first white woolly aphids infection on sugarcane.
The pest, first spotted in Sangli district a year ago, has assumed epidemic proportions. It is threatening to bring western Maharashtra''s mighty cane economy to its knees.
VSI researchers have hit upon conobathra aphidivora, an insect which feeds on white woolly aphids.They have discovered the natural habitat of the insect in Kumbhi, Kasari and Gadhinglaj talukas of Kolhapur district and at Bawchi village in the Walwa taluka of Sangli district.
A hunt is presently on to explore more habitats in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara districts, which have all borne the brunt of the aphid infection.
A.N. Salunkhe, a researcher at VSI and cane development officer at Islampur''s Rajarambapu Patil co-operative sugar factory, told TNN that efforts are on to take the benefits of their research to affected farmers.
On Monday, the factory management held lectures and demonstrations on the aphid menace in various villages of Sangli district. Salunkhe said a natural enemy of the pest is the best way to contain pestilence.
The conobathra aphidivora has a life cycle of 35 days in which it matures from an egg to a caterpillar, onward to a cocoon and a moth.