When a plant suffers from pain, there is unsubstantial clue for a non-professional to understand and diagnose the problem of the plant.

A plant also suffers maladies as humans. The difference is only that humans can verbally express  their sufferings. We seek to deal with the problem by home remedy or by visiting hospitals for treatment, whereas the plant has no option other than to suffer unless the gardener sees the signs and symptoms. He would go to the nearest agro-vet to buy the pesticide to get rid of it.

Those who have gardens at home would perfunctorily water the plant at least once or twice a day—morning and evening. We might have heard and even complained that the plants we sow do not perform well even when watered twice a day to produce as much as commercial farmers reap.

There may be many differences underlying the problem, whether due to the poor quality of seed we have sown, or soil deficient in nutrient required for normal growth.

The diseases and pests, not only in the commercial scale but also in subsistence farming, cause a huge loss. Subsistence farming is what we Nepali have most adopted. These diseases and pests are insidious and communicable.

If one pest is seen in a garden, and if gone unchecked, it will affect the neighbor’s garden, eventually.

The recent example is of Tuta absoluta—a moth, whose larva feeds on the tomato plants and fruits. It was reported in Kathmandu first and later spread to the nearby districts and currently it has been reported in many districts. Lately, this pest has caused the decrease in production and the price of tomato has surged.

The reportedly high use of pesticide without knowing its damage spectrum not only increases the immunity of the pests and diseases but also causes  negative effects on the environment and human health.

We have to face it, we become weak both financially and physically and pests become robust—genetically, as a consequence. In lieu of the chemical pesticides, we have a lot of nature-gifted techniques and tools like botanicals (neem, asuro, tite pati etc.) available everywhere.

We can locally make ‘jhol mal’(cow urine mixed with botanical pesticide) which acts as a repellent for pests and vectors and substitute for expensive fertilizers.