Lalitpur, Feb : Farmers these days are greatly troubled by the leaf miner which has infested their vegetable crops. The leaf miner problem has been seen in 35 districts of the country.
A leaf miner is the larva of an insect that lives in and eats the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths (Lepidoptera), sawflies (Symphyta, a type of wasp) and flies (Diptera), though some beetles also exhibit this behavior, senior crop protection officer at the Plant Quarantine Section of the Department of Agriculture, Laxmi Prasad Kharel, said.
The leaf miner burrows into the leaf and eats up the tissue thereby damaging the leaves.
“It can damage 70 per cent of the crop. Although it was seen in one or two vegetable crops, now it has spread in many,” he said.
Kharel said this pest which was seen four years back has now spread to 35 districts. This pest was first seen in South Africa and it has entered Nepal via India from there. According to him this pest has entered Nepal from tomato or vegetables of the same variety.
There are plant quarantine offices at the 16 border transit points to prevent the entry of infested plants into the country. Kharel said the pest can enter not only with the import of plant seeds infested with leaf miner but from the infested fruits as well.
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