Trico Card Production Unit
The Trico Card Production Unit is being operated at the Alathur Bus Stand as part of the Alathur Grama Panchayat's Innovative Agricultural Development Project for biological pest control. The Trico Card contains the eggs of Trico Gramma wasps, a predatory species that destroys the eggs of the rice stem borer and the leafroller. This completely innovative technology is being prepared by the specially trained Swantwanam Kudumbashree Group of the Biological Pest Control Department of the Kerala Agricultural University. The unit will operate in collaboration with the Alathur Grama Panchayat Innovative Agricultural Development Project, Kudumbashree District Mission, Krishi Bhavan Alathur, and the Biological Pest Control Department of the Kerala Agricultural University. The Swantwanam Kudumbashree Unit at Vanur, Alathur is the first Kudumbashree Group in the state to start a Trico Card Production Unit. Trico cards are being used for pest control in the second lamp of 500 acres of paddy cultivation in Alathur Panchayat. Egg cards are being provided to farmers at a 50% subsidy rate by including them in the Gram Panchayat fund for paddy cultivation in Alathur.
The Trico Card Production Unit, which was started in the financial year 2020-21 as part of the innovative project of Alathur Gram Panchayat, is producing 1000 cc of Trico Card (Egg Card) each season, which is used against pests such as Thanduthurappan, Olachurutty etc. Under the joint auspices of Alathur Krishi Bhavan and the Biological Pest Control Department of Kerala Agricultural University, Vanur, Swathanam Kudumbashree Group is providing training and under the leadership of Krishi Bhavan, egg cards called Trichocards are being produced commercially against the main pests of rice, the stem borer and the leaf borer.
· How to use Trichocards (egg cards)?
Within 10 days of planting, 1 cc of Trichogramma chilonis against leaf borer and 1 cc of Trichogramma japonicum against stem borer per acre should be planted in the field and placed on the stalks.
Thus, egg cards should be placed in the field 4 times during the crop period, first at an interval of 10 days and then at an interval of 15 days, until the ear appears.
1 cc card should be cut into 10 pieces, and one piece of Trichogramma chilonis against the leafhopper and one piece of Trichogramma japonicum against the stem borer should be stapled to each leaf at the rate of 10 cents per leaf.
Placing egg cards in 4 times per acre costs only Rs. 640. Meanwhile, applying the medicine to an acre costs about Rs. 1000 once. Egg cards are safer and more profitable than pesticides.
The first Kudumbashree unit in the state to manufacture Trico cards, which are very beneficial for eco-friendly paddy cultivation, is operating under the auspices of the Alathur Grama Panchayat.
