Short-duration paddy behind flies in habitations: PAU expert

For the last couple of weeks, streetlights and those on the exterior of houses and other buildings have been swamped by flies after sunset which was not the case in the last year’s corresponding period. This is an unwanted consequence of short-duration rice varieties, said an expert at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). These flies are brown planthoppers, a rice pest, according to entomologist Dr KS Suri.
These hoppers suck the juice of green paddy plants. As crops start maturing and drying, these move towards greener fields. However, this time around most of the farmers have sown short-duration varieties. There were no greener rice fields to feed on, so they started to migrate from fields, getting attracted towards light.
“As there are no more crops for them to suck sap from, they are migrating from the fields and getting attracted towards the light, which is why we are seeing a lot of these on bulbs, etc not just in the rural areas but also in the cities,” said Dr Suri.
“As long the plant is green, it has sap. When it matures, it turns brown and dry, leaving nothing for the hoppers,” he said while requesting the farmers to not use pesticides for the hoppers as they are no longer a threat to the crop.
“It can only damage the crop by sucking on the sap. However, since the crop is mature by now, it poses no threat and there is no use of pesticides to protect the crop from them,” he added.