In south India, a new type of insect is wreaking havoc on the chili crop. Thrips parvispinous, an invasive pest initially discovered in Indonesia in 2015, has quickly expanded throughout Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, impacting over 9 lakh acres of chili crop. In Andhra Pradesh, as chili crop is cultivated over an area of 6 to 8 hundred thousand acres, more than 70% of the crop is damaged.

This study surveyed and assess the effect of APCNF practices on thrips management versus chemical practices on 70 farms in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, and Kurnool (The chili growing districts of Andhra Pradesh).

The findings of the survey show that the APCNF chili crop could withstand thrips infection and that damage levels in APCNF are just 9 to 10% as compared to Chemical chili crops where damage levels are as high as 50- 60%.