Abstract

The heavy toll levied by insect pests on cultivated crops has been an annual feature, ever since man took to Agriculture. The situation, of late has taken a turn for the worse due to the changing conditions. The drive to increase agricultural production and the ready response of the cultivators have lead to some unforeseen repurcussions by way of creating new problems in insect control. The intensive cultivation coupled with the rapid expansion of the area under the plough has resulted in the various crops being grown throughout the year and this has provided a favourable atmosphere for the breeding and perpetuation of the numerous insect hordes. As a result, pests which were already reckoned as serious have increased in their virulance while some species which were considered only of minor importance, have now, assumed quite serious proportions - viz. the rice jassid (Nephotettix bipunctatus) flared up into prominence by 1948 and has now come to stay as a very serious pest of paddy. Added to this the white jassid (Tettigoniella spectra), the fulgorid (Nysia atravenosa and Nila- parvata lugens) along with the black Pentatomid (Scotinophora lurida) etc., claim very serious attention in certain localities. The steady and alarming increase in the depredations by the field rat (Bandicota bengalensis) would only render the picture more lurid.

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