Go gingerly: Farmers drop blighted crop

Ginger production has fallen by 35 per cent in 10 of the 12 districts, and by 45 per cent in Solan and Sirmaur, the ginger bowls of the state. Rhizome rot, stem borer, leaf folder and white grub are gnawing away at the roots of the farmers’ prosperity, so much so that barely 30-35 per cent of the farmers in Solan and Sirmaur grow the spice today, against nearly 100 per cent in the mid-70s.

‘‘Seed ginger is highly vulnerable to attack by different groups of pathogens, leading to rhizome rot in 50-80 per cent of the stored produce,’’ said N P Dohroo, a senior scientist of the Department of Plant Pathology at the Nauni-based Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture. ‘‘Rhizome rot is both seed and soil-borne. Because of monoculture and lack of crop rotation, the soil has become home to pathogens like pythium ultimum, fusarium oxysporum, zingiberi and ralstonia aolanacearum, which gives rise to soft rot, yellows and wilt respectively.’’

Though farm scientists have been aware of the problem for a while, all their suggested solutions so far have fallen flat. At the moment, said S S Negi, vice-chancellor of Parmar University, the focus was on ‘‘bringing down losses to below the economic injury level’’.

Simultaneously, scientists have developed the ‘Himgiri’ variety of the spice, which, Negi claimed, had responded well in test runs and proved tolerant to disease, particularly rhizome rot. ‘‘We have also launched a special project on refinement of storage technology for control of rhizome rot. And now growers are in a position to increase production,’’ he added.

Admitting that there was need for more research to control the diseases, Negi said that besides identifying the cause of the diseases and solutions, knowledge of production and protection technology also needed to be disseminated among the growers, particularly in the far-flung areas, to bring more and more area under ginger cultivation.