ZIHAs Take Off For Grassland Caterpillars This Time

Balıkesir, with its meadow-trailer entering the country from the Thrace region; Upon being seen intensely in the sunflower fields, Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality's agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle ZIHAs took off one after the other and started to fight from the air on an area of ​​245 thousand decares.

Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Rural Services Department Head Serkan Akça and Balıkesir Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Director Erkan Alkan accompanied the teams that sprayed the sunflower fields with ZİHAs in Şamlı Mahallesi. Informing that the fight against the meadow caterpillar started in the Thrace region this year, Mayor Akça stated that they started to support the fight with ZIHAs after the meadow caterpillar, which was found to harm sunflowers, was also seen in the Balıkesir region.

Especially; The Ministry of Agriculture and the Metropolitan Municipality made announcements about spraying to the farmers after the grass caterpillars started to be seen intensively in Bandırma, Manyas, Gönen, Susurluk and Karesi districts.

Balıkesir Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry, Erkan Alkan, said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry also supported the fight against meadow caterpillars and said, “Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality provides great support to our farmers with aerial spraying. Detection and mapping operations will be carried out against this agricultural pest during daylight hours. Unmanned aerial vehicles will continue to spray in the evening when the bees are not active due to intense bee activities during the day.

If the farmers detect the meadow caterpillar pest, they should immediately inform the District Agricultural Directorates. In chemical control, when 3-5 larvae are detected in a plant or 20 larvae per square meter, it is important to apply pesticides in the morning or evening with Deltamethrin 25 g/l active ingredient plant protection products. It would be appropriate for our farmers who will apply pesticides to inform the beekeepers in their regions.