Managing Paddy bugs effectively
….farmers active involvement is vital.
Farmers have been assisted with monitoring of their fields for paddy bugs for a number of years. Guyana Rice Development Board’s Extension Officers monitor farmers’ fields daily from the time of “heading” to 10 days before harvesting, and based on the levels of paddy bugs advise farmers on whether to spray their fields or not. Following the re-emergence of higher levels of paddy bugs a dedicated Paddy Bug Management Officer (PBMO) was employed and placed in each rice growing Region. The PBMOs work along with the Extension Officers to enhance the management of paddy bugs.
Paddy bugs invade continuously. Farmers’ fields can be re-invaded by paddy bugs immediately after spaying. Area wide management with aerial spraying will get rid of an existing paddy bug population, but it will not prevent reinvasions from occurring. Aerial spraying of pesticides require environmental authorization from the Environmental Protection Agency. Area wide management with an insecticide is most effective when the age range of the crop in a given block is within ten days. Effective area wide management is also achieved when farmers come together and spray at the same time. If the age range is extended beyond 10 days some farmers’ fields may need spraying whilst others may not. This can cause bugs to nest in unsprayed areas, multiply and migrate to fields that were once sprayed.
Paddy bugs survive on other grasses whilst waiting for the rice plant to produce panicles. At this stage it is imperative that proper sanitation be maintained in the cultivated areas. Farmers must remove all alternate hosts, such as red rice, schoonard grass (monkey tail), bird seed grass, volunteers (drop seed), etc. Additionally uncultivated fields, dams, meres must also be free of these alternate hosts. There has been no evidence of paddy bugs in trenches. Once the uncultivated fields, dams, meres are without a food source for the bugs, management of the bugs will be confined to the cultivated fields only. This means that all stakeholders need to be involved in the management of paddy bugs.
All chemicals recommended by the Board have been tested and proven effective. Evaluation of chemicals go through several phases, starting with bio-assays in the lab and a series of field testing in small plots, semi commercial (5-10 acres) and commercial levels (above 10 acres) over 3 paddy producing seasons. If chemicals are not applied with the recommended techniques, then effective control would not be achieved. Farmers have been observed to be adding solids directly to motor blowers rather than pre-mixing before, mixing 2 chemicals that are not compatible with each other, applying 1 or less motor blower per acre instead of two motor blowers, spraying outside the recommended times for spraying. Farmers also hold the sprayer nozzle too high above the rice plant in an effort to get wider coverage. This limits effective coverage (wetness of the rice plant) of the plant with the chemical.
Research has been on going to develop effective and sustainable management strategies for paddy bugs. Among the activities are investigations into the bug’s reproduction and survival strategies, its biology and economic impact.
A sound monitoring and surveillance system has been one of the main focal points for efficient and effective management of paddy bugs. Other aspects to developing effective mechanisms to control this bug will be to utilise natural resources like botanicals and biological control agents. Ultimately, there should be reduced dependence on the use of chemical insecticides, coinciding with a sound integrated pest management (IPM) program.
Farmers are advised to sow during the recommended period of each growing season. One of the benefits of this is better management of paddy bugs. In Region 6, over fifteen thousand acres were sown outside of the recommended period despite being advised by GRDB of the recommended period to sow.
GRDB continues to inform farmers on the management of paddy bugs. For the first crop of 2019, GRDB’s Extension Department conducted seven-hundred and sixty five paddy bug management demonstrations, where approximately one thousand and forty two farmers attended. In Region 6, the Extension Department conducted thirty paddy bug management demonstrations throughout the region, however only seventy five farmers attended these activities.
The Board continues to advise farmers on paddy bug management through social media, television infomercials, distributing of flyers to farmers and adverts in local newspapers.
The GRDB is fully aware of the damaging and costly effect of paddy bug to the industry and will continue to give its priority to dealing with the pest.