Cashew plantation in Odisha attacked by tea mosquito bug
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
Environment
- Published
27th Apr, 2022
-
Context
Tea mosquito bugs have attacked acres of cashew crops in Odisha and climate change may be to blame.
Important facts about the Crop
- Scientific name: Anacardium occidentale
- Cashew is native of South Eastern Brazil, from where it was introduced to Malabar coast of India in the sixteenth century.
- The cashew tree is a low spreading, evergreen tree with a number of primary and secondary branches.
- Climate: It is a hardy tropical plant and does not exact a very specific, climate.
- Type of soil: Cashew is cultivated on a wide variety of soils in India like laterite, red and coastal sandy soil. To a limited extent, it is also grown on black soils. It can be also grown in hill slopes in virgin organic matter rich soils.
- Producing states: Commercial cashew cultivation is practiced in eight states, primarily on the west and east coasts, namely Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
- Odisha is the third-largest state in cashew cultivation.
Tea mosquito bug
- The tea mosquito bug (Helopeltis antonii) has been around for years but generally infected the cashew plantations in the south Indian states.
- The genus Helopeltis is a group of Heteropterans in the family Miridae and tribe Dicyphini.
- They are serious pests of cashew during cropping season in India and other cashew growing countries.
- Pest damage begins during flushing stage of cashew and continues during flowering and fruiting.
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