Do light traps help control crop pests at night?

Light traps attract night flying insects, mostly moths whose caterpillars damage crops, and many beetles. A bulb or solar lamp draws them and they fall into a water and oil tray or a funnel below. They are most useful as a monitoring tool, you see which moths are flying and when the egg laying flush is starting, which helps you time your control. They can give some reduction in pest numbers if run at the right hours, usually the first part of the night, and over a community of fields rather than one isolated plot. The honest limit is that light traps also catch many harmless and even helpful insects, so run them only during peak moth flight, not every night, and switch off later. One solar light trap can cover a few acres. They work best combined with pheromone traps and field hygiene. For a village, putting up several together gives a better effect than one trap alone. Ask your KVK about subsidised solar light trap models.