Study on use of insecticides on cauliflower crop in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh

The cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower and cabbage) are part of the major vegetables produced in India. Due to intensive cultivation, the insect pest incidence and indiscriminate use of pesticides has been increased over the years. A roving survey was conducted among the cruciferous growing farmers’ of different mandals in Chittoor district and Chintapalle region in Visakhapatnam District of Andhra Pradesh during rabi, 2017-18 and 2018-19, to get overall information on insecticide usage pattern and awareness among the farmers. The survey results revealed that, Kuppam Mandal of Chittoor District recorded highest consumption of insecticides and 43.75 per cent of total insecticides used, were belong to moderately hazardous class and only 6.25 per cent of belong to highly hazardous class and slightly hazardous class, whereas in Chintapalle region, of Visakhapatnam District there was no record of insecticide application. The results on insecticide usage and awareness confirms that, majority of the farmers prefer to spray insecticides weekly once (51.66%), 71.66 per cent per cent of the farmers were not taking any precautionary measures while application and 84.99 per cent of the farmers were disposing the insecticide containers unscientifically.