Pests of commercial vegetable and horticultural crops in dry temperate regions of Himachal Pradesh

摘要

Majority of the farmers in the dry temperate areas including Lahaul and Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh are largely dependent on the cultivation of vegetable and horticultural crops for their livelihood. The presence of pests in these regions of Himachal Pradesh assumes greater significance because farmers in these regions have only one cropping season of six months (April to September) to earn income for the whole year. Therefore, farmers cannot afford any decline in production, productivity andquality of the produce. In Lahaul valley, the current area under pea and potato is 1782 and 747 ha, which accounts for 55.7 and 22.1 per cent of total cropped area, respectively. In recent years, the cultivation of crucifer crops, especially cauliflower, has picked up tremendously and the area under these crops has increased from 26 ha (2005-06) to 102 ha (2009-10) representing an increase of 292.3 per cent. Among horticultural crops, apple has emerged as major crop in this valley. Many new apple orchards have come up in this sub-valley during last few years. At present, apple is grown over an area of 640 ha, which is 31.4 per cent more than in 2005-06 (487 ha) (Anonymous, 2011a).