Sri Lankan Prez instructs authorities to control ‘Sena caterpillar’

Sri Lankan Prez instructs authorities to control ‘Sena caterpillar’

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed relevant authorities to act on a war footing to control the Sena caterpillar, which poses a massive threat to the agricultural crops. 

He instructed to jointly implement a program to spray pesticide and launch a national programme within a time frame.

He also announced setting up of a Presidential task force to supervise the program and to take swift decisions to control the menace. 

The cabinet meeting held 23 Jan decided to award 40 thousand Sri Lankan rupees for every acre of crop damaged due to the worm.

Sena Caterpillar

An aggressive species of caterpillar known as Sena has started causing severe damages to various cultivated areas including maize plantations in three districts of Sri Lanka.

The Department of Agriculture has recommended three types of pesticides for immediate use to control the caterpillar and moth.

1. Proclaim – Emamectin benzoate 
2. Spinoperam – radiant
3. Coragen - Chlorantranilliprole

These three pesticides are recommended to be used once every 7 days, after confirming the presence of the Sena caterpillar. Repetitive use of the same pesticide is not recommended due to the fact that this caterpillar possesses a special ability to adapt to pesticides.