Snail and steady devouring of crops recurs in Nashik

Snail and steady devouring of crops recurs in Nashik
Express News Service

NASHIK, SEPT 6: Snails have reappeared in hundreds, devouring crops around Songaon and Shingve villages of Niphad teshil of Nashik district, after a gap of about two years. The first army of the slow but steady creature was spotted in the field of Balasaheb Kandekar in a small number about a week ago. They were emerging from the soil and their hiding places like heaps of grass or wood during night and feeding on tomatoes, chillies and groundnuts. According to Kandekar from Songaon village, about 100 acres of standing crops, especially vegetables, have been affected by the snail menace. The snails disappear with the first rays of the sun only to reappear during the night.

The agricultural officer of the Niphad tehsil Sunil Rathi as well as the sub-divisional agricultural officer for Niphad Shivaji Awale have visited the fields but have said that the situation was not alarming. The officials have asked farmers to create heaps of dry grass, wheat husk powder, jaggery and spray Carbaril (an insecticide) as well as kerosene for trapping the snails, who take shelter during day. The officials have said that experts have been summoned from the Mahatma Phule Agricultural University, Rahuri (Ahmednagar) to study the phenomenon. The snails which have shells weighing upto 100 grams are said to belong to the African snails family.

Incidentally, in September 1998, the snails had appeared in fields around Dikshi village of Niphad tehsil devouring cash crops. A team of experts from the Mahatma Phule Agricultural University led by Dr B M Hasabe and Prof M S Shirke had visited Dikshi then. Hundreds of snails were trapped and killed by farmers, who laid traps in their fields. The menace has recurred two years later in different villages in the same tehsil. The phenomenon has created panic among the concerned farmers, who fear loss of cash crops. The farmers have demanded compensation for the destroyed crops from the government, while agricultural officials have said that the claims of the farmers have been exaggerated and that only 14 acres have been affected by the snails' attack.