The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has advised the farmers cultivating fruit crops to buy seedlings directly from the market after properly examining the roots for better yield.

“Seedlings for fruit crops like jack fruit is being purchased from Kerala. Most of the time, the farmers do not purchase them. Instead it is the middlemen who buy them. They do not notice the nematodes present in the seedlings,” a statement from S. Subramanium, Professor and Head of the Department of Nematology, said.

“The farmers do not notice the nematodes while purchasing. They realise it only after the damage is done to the crops,” he said and urged the farmers to go to the market and buy the seedlings directly in order to prevent damage to the crops.