Khalsa college researchers have developed “Friendly Insects” to help protect crops

Doing their bit towards encouraging organic farming are the agriculture scientists of Khalsa College, Punjab. It is the Bio-Control Lab at the Agriculture Department of the college which is spear heading the development of friendly insects in their laboratory.

These insects are aimed towards protecting the crops from pests which traditionally have been harming the crops. These friendly insects are set free in fields which are infested with harmful insects to biologically control pests and thereby save the crops. According to the agriculture scientist and the person in charge of College’s Bio Control lab, Mr Rajinder Pal Singh, “These beneficial insects either feed on pest or lay eggs in the body of larvae of enemy insects and break their life cycles”.
The farmer therefore can completely eliminate pests from his crops without spraying any pesticide. This program has been developed with the aim of biologically controlling harmful crop insects and in turn dissuading farmers from using poisonous insecticides on their crops. The use of pesticides and insecticides at a large scale has already played  havoc on the farming sector of Punjab. This initiative by the college is a step forward towards motivating and encouraging farmers to adopt organic and natural farming (via).
It was important to guide the farmers to move towards organic farming because the use of pesticides and insecticides was not only loading the farm produce with harmful chemicals but was also killing the friendly insects. The use of these friendly insects not only provides a cost-effective pest control solution for the farmers but at the same time allows the production of healthier crops completely naturally.
The friendly insects developed by the college include Trichogramma Brasiliensis, Isotima Jevenesis, Coccinellide, Syrphid , Spider, Carabid, Dragon Fly, Predatory Pentatomids and Abnthrocoriddbugs.This project has already received encouraging responses. The bio control laboratory has been approached by several sugar mills and farmers who now take on regular services of the laboratory towards using these insects to protect their crops from harmful insects, albeit the organic way.
It is encouraging to note that the college’s own 50 acres of agriculture farm has adopted this organic way of farming and has completely stopped the use of the pesticides and insecticides on the crops grown on the land.
It is time man realises the damages caused by these chemical sprays and pesticides towards nature and wisely pick the healthier, better option of going organic. We need to nurture back our environment towards a healthy stable state by adopting and creating awareness towards these nature friendly farming practices.
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