Whitefly menace hits coconut trees

Coconut growers are worried over whitefly menace affecting the plantation in the taluk.

The whitefly eats away the sap from coconut fronds. Each frond will have at least 20 to 30 such flies. The fronds have turned black. Even the yield has reduced, the farmers said.

Coconut is a commercial crop in Kadur taluk. Due to the continuous drought for the last few years, the majority of the trees were lost. The bountiful rainfall last year had regained the trees. Now, the whitefly menace has once again hit the coconut groves.

The whiteflies have hit the coconut plantations at Malleshwara and Maccheri in the taluk.