Brinjal is the major vegetable crop being cultivated by the farmers from Rahuri, Sangamner and Rahata blocks during summer season. This crop is being heavily infested by shoot and fruit borer  leading to heavy crop losses. It was noticed that the brinjal growers approached the pesticide dealers for having the effective weapon against the shoot and fruit borer. Accordingly the brinjal growers were adopting the erratic chemical sprays leading to huge consumption of toxic chemicals and ultimately high cost of plant protection. Even by investing huge amount on chemical pesticides for pest management no satisfactory results could be achieved besides increasing the production cost. The intervention made by the KVK provided the solution of water traps for effective management

of this pest. The group meetings were taken with the farmers from Malharwadi village of Rahuri block and Chanegaon village of Sangamner block. Initially the farmers did not give satisfactory response for adopting of this technology. In these villages the state agricultural department had started the farmer’s field school and by seeing this opportunity we have also decided to attend this field school for making discussions with brinjal growers regarding management of shoot and fruit borer. Through thse field schools awareness was created among the brinjal growers regarding the causes of heavy infestation of this pest , ill-effects of chemical pesticides and the other low cost options available with the farmers to solve the pest problems. The problem raised by the farmers was the local supply of water traps and for solving this problem the KVK planned to supply water traps in the villages. Accordingly the KVK reached in these villages with the own vehicle and water traps were made available for the brinjal growers. Similarly for building the confidence among the farmers it was also decided to conduct front line demonstrations on IPM of brinjal in these villages. The farmers were shown the method demonstration about installation of water traps in brinjal fields. The farmers were asked to keep daily observations on catches of male moths and they were also suggested to change the pheromone lures after one month. They were convinced regarding the group implementation of the technology for effective control of the pest.In this way the brinjal growers were motivated towards the eco-friendly approaches of pest management and

 regularly field visits as well as group meeting were also organized for taking the feedback. With the participation of the farmers water traps with pheromone lures of the pest were installed in the brinjal fields and  lures were changed after every 30 days. The large number of catches of male moths of shoot and fruit borer were observed during first 15 days and after that the catches were reduced. After one month the lures were changed and accordingly the moths caught in the traps were destroyed. This resulted in less egg laying of the pest and thus the incidence of the pest was under check. It helped to convince the brinjal growers regarding the efficacy of water traps fro pest management. The KVK popularized the technology among the vegetable growers by organizing the field day on IPM brinjal where the farmers were asked to share their experiences. The scientist of the KVK made 10 diagnostic visits during the cropping season for regular follow up of the technology demonstrated as well as to interact with the farmers regarding the results of this technology. The technology spread in the neighboring villages also and more number of farmers started to approach KVK  for supply of these traps. By considering the demand from brinjal growers the KVK supplemented the technology by supplying these traps to the farmers through it’s farmer’s service center of the KVK. The KVK has supplied 7000 water traps to 289 brinjal grower covering 89 villages from 11 blocks of 3 districts.   
This has resulted in wide spread adoption of the technology. As per the feedback given by the farmers installation of water traps could increase the spray intervals by 3-4 days and helped in reducing 40% sprays of chemical pesticides and thus near the consumption. They could save the amount of Rs.2000/- per acre per month on plant protection besides satisfactory pest management. The pest infestation is reduced by almost 90% and this helped in minimizing the cost of plant protection by almost 50%.  The adoption of the technology is almost 75% in the KVK operational villages.