As the monsoon season peaks and farmers across the country race to finish transplanting their kharif paddy, a lesser-noticed threat is quietly working inside the crop. While farmers pour chemical fertilisers into their fields to keep weeds under control, a pest that burrows straight into the stem often escapes attention, and by the time it's spotted, the damage to the standing paddy crop is already done. Paddy is one of the biggest crops of the kharif season, and the earnings of millions of farming households depend directly on it, which is why damage from a pest like this can hit their income hard. That pest is the stem borer, which hollows out paddy plants from within.
How the stem borer damages paddy plants
Agricultural scientist Dr. A. K. Singh explains that paddy crops face attacks from several kinds of insects, and one of the most significant is the stem borer, which tunnels into the plant's stem and eats away at it from the inside, causing the plant to gradually wither and directly hurting the final yield. Alongside the stem borer, Dr. Singh points out, paddy leaves are also vulnerable to blast disease, which punches holes through the leaves and weakens the plant further. Because of this dual threat, he recommends that farmers keep a constant watch over their fields so that early warning signs are caught before the infestation spreads.
Treat the soil before transplanting
According to Dr. Singh, several pesticides that specifically target the stem borer are already available in the market, and the good news is that they come at affordable prices. To kill the insects that bore into plant roots, farmers should treat the soil with a 0.05 percent chlorpyrifos solution before transplanting even begins. The paddy seedlings themselves should also be treated ahead of transplanting, so that the crop is protected from the very moment it goes into the field. This early intervention, Dr. Singh notes, sharply cuts down the chances of a serious infestation later in the season.
Light traps and neem oil offer extra protection
Dr. Singh also recommends light traps as an effective way to control the stem borer, since the insects are drawn to the light and get trapped and destroyed on their own. Spraying neem oil is another low-cost, effective method that farmers can adopt without much difficulty. Alongside these, pheromone traps and Trico-cards also prove highly effective at keeping the stem borer population in check. Using these measures together, Dr. Singh says, gives farmers a double benefit, cutting down the pest's spread while also protecting the paddy crop from being destroyed altogether.
The takeaway for farmers
Agricultural experts stress that the earlier the stem borer is identified in a crucial kharif crop like paddy, the smaller the eventual loss, which is why combining soil treatment, seedling treatment and trap-based methods is seen as the most effective way to protect the harvest.
