Grape Cultivation and Management of Mealy Bug in Sangli District of Maharashtra — An Analysis

The paper has studied the land-use pattern, area under different varieties of grapes, and sources of technical guidance on grape cultivation in the Sangli district of Maharashtra. The paper has also studied the adoption of two important pesticides, viz. ‘Admire’ and ‘Confidor’ (manufactured by Bayer Crop Science Ltd) in controlling grape mealy bug. The study is based on the data collected by survey method from 257 farmes in 5 tehsils of the Sangli district during the year 2010–11. The study has revealed that the grapes were allocated 15.7 per cent of the total area by the sample farmers. Though 10 varieties of grapes were being cultivated, the highly preferred varieties were ‘Thomson’ (36%), Tas-a-Ganesah (26%) and Sharad (14%). The farmers opinion regarding use of pesticides, viz. ‘Admire’ and ‘Confidor’ was sought on quality and other aspects. Most of the farmers rated these products ‘very good’ and ‘good’ on overall basis. The efforts being made by the company towards marketing of these products were also studied.