Rice mealybug (Brevennia rehi): a potential threat to rice in a long-term rice-based conservation agriculture system in the middle Indo-Gangetic Plain

The middle Indo-Gangetic Plain (MIGP) of India covering eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is endowed with rich and diverse natural resources (land, water and environment), but low productivity and income. Rice-based cropping systems have maximum coverage of net sown area (9.64 m ha) in the MIGP 1 . Wheat, mustard, potato, maize and pulses are the major crops grown in rotation with rice. Rice–wheat system is extensively practised by the farmers of the region. This system requires high inputs in terms of machinery, nutrients, water and agro-chemicals. Unlike the northwestern part of the IGP (Trans and Upper IGP), the rice–wheat system of the MIGPs are less mechanized/labour-intensive due to small and fragmented land holdings and resource-poor farmers 2 . The total factor productivity index of the crops was reported to decline from 1.4% in Trans IGP to 0.43% in the MIGP 2 . Thus, the technological innovations along with socio-economic and policy reforms are the major challenges to sustain increase in productivity of ricebased production systems in the MIGP. There is a need to develop technologies for sustainable intensification and diversification of the rice–wheat system, including tillage and crop establishment options.