Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Plant Quarantine Centre readying database of pests

By R.K.Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI JULY 4. The Regional Plant Quarantine Station here is in the process of preparing a database of pests affecting crops in the country as part of an effort to set up a national phytosanitary database centre.

Once complete, the database would be helpful for ensuring that crop exports from the country were not subjected to unnecessary paperwork.

Besides, identification of pest endemic areas for particular crops is also a WTO stipulation which every country has to comply with.

Nations all over, especially the developed ones, have been ``extremely fussy'' about this since they do not want any new disease or pest imported to their countries.

The effort, which began last year has so far listed pests in as many as 84 crops in the country. ``We embarked on this since there is no University or ICAR institute in the country which has a comprehensive database on all pests affecting crops.

I would say that the study is still in its infancy ,'' says the station Deputy Director (Plant Pathology), O.R.Reddy.

The process is time consuming, tedious and dynamic since this involves listing all insects, fungi, weevils, nematodes, mites and other pests for every single crop, says the Assistant Director (PP), N.Satyanarayana, who conducts the study jointly with Dr.Reddy.

For instance the station has listed 134 pest details for wheat, which includes 46 varieties of insects, 71 fungi, 10 nematodes and one species of mites.

But even this needs to be constantly reviewed and updated, he added. One ambitious project that the Plant Quarantine authorities in the country want to be implemented is the declaration of pest-free regions in the country.

Once certain regions are declared pest-free, then export clearances to other countries could become easier.

Even this was a dynamic process and needed to be reviewed periodically.

One serious problem that the authorities were facing now pertained to individuals bringing in plants and seeds without any authorisation.

The worry is that pests also could get in. While plants and sprouts were intercepted, it was not possible to detect seeds, which could be brought into the country in small quantities.

Seeking to drive home the seriousness of the issue, one pathologist pointed out that bringing in a kg of gold might not cause any great harm to the country's economy.

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