Pune: Hundreds of acres of paddy farms have been affected by bacterial blight syndrome due to climate change , said district agriculture officials . The infections have been noticed in standing paddy crops in Ambegaon, Junnar, Mulshi, Maval, Bhor and Velhe tehsils. The authorities have started an awareness drive to take appropriate preventive steps.
They are in the process of finding out the scale of the infestation. "The disease is mainly caused by climate change," Sanjay Kachole, district agriculture officer, told TOI. "The prevalence of hot days and cool nights in the last month provided a conducive atmosphere for the infection," he said.
This year, the district recorded over 60,000 hectares of paddy cultivation, more than the average figure, because of good rainfall. A section of agriculture activists and paddy growers blamed the district agriculture officials for not doing enough to create awareness among farmers all these years. "Farmers are only aware of traditional disease control measures.
They opt for those practices due to financial constraints, but it does not save their crop. Ultimately, they get a low harvest. The tehsil or block-level agriculture officials need to create awareness and give them better options to control diseases," said Shantaram Sarvade, an activist from Khed.
"We will not get an impressive yield this year because of the infection. Paddy growth has not been good for the last two years due to scant rainfall. This year, we have the infection chal.