Gangs of farm labourers in Pune’s northern plains set out on a hunting expedition as the sun touches the western horizon. Their brief is simple: Collect white grub beetles and deliver them to the nearest gut (block) office of the Vighnahar Cooperative Sugar Factory. The sugar mill pays 25 paise for every beetle. Till Thursday morning the factory had paid over Rs 3.5 lakh for 14-lakh odd insects; the operation will go on for another week.The modus operandi may sound crude, but so far it has proved to be the cheapest and most effective way to control the devastating pests. Last year, white grubs — members of the halotrichia species — destroyed sugarcane worth about Rs 80 lakh in the Vighnahar factory jurisdiction alone, say factory officials.For entomologists, white grubs form an important group of plant feeders, and are said to be of considerable economic importance. At the Vighnahar sugar factory — as with groundnut and vegetable farmers in the region — though, these wrinkled C-shaped critters mean only one thing: They are the pests that cut the main stems or roots of plants and tunnel into tubers and freshly rooted plants.Says factory founder Nivrutti Sherkar, a former MP, ‘‘(Hunting pests) is rather awkward, but there was no other shortcut. We’re facing a major threat.’’But A S Patil, senior entomologist with the Manjari (Pune)-based Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI), sees nothing unusual in the method. ‘‘A couple of years ago two lakh beetles were collected and destroyed similarly in Kolhapur. The Vishwas factory paid 50 paise for each leucopsolis beetle,’’ he says.Conservator of Forests in-charge of education A K Nigam also finds the exercise very traditional. ‘‘Locals use bright lamps and mustard oil-soaked papers to catch beetles and later kill them,’’ says Nigam, adding that farmers had been facing a major problem ever since the beetles developed immunity to common pesticides used in neighbouring teak plantations.Though Vighnahar factory officials are unsure what brought about the pest attack, Patil says the white grub attack follows all dry years. VSI researchers have been working on these beetles since 1976, he says, adding that several sugar factories in the region had faced the problem in the past. The beetles hibernate in some 33 kinds of host trees (species similar to the babool) till the first showers of the season and then multiply incredibly fast. Farmers and labourers do their bit to control the population by shaking the plants at dusk and collecting the falling beetles in a cloth. ‘‘Our men at the gut offices physically count the catch and pay the labourers 25 paise for each one,’’ says a factory official. The beetles are later burnt and destroyed.The VSI has been advising farmers to go for cheaper methods of pest control, like using a mix of vertical and horizontal ploughing. Growing resistant plant varieties and attracting natural bird predators that feed on white grubs are the other methods suggested. For the moment, though, beetles continue to be on sale.
