Signs of increasing pest infestation on cotton crop in northern states
17-Jul-2024 12:12 PM
Chandigarh. Infestation of pink bollworm insect is being seen on cotton crop in all the three major producing states of northern India- Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Infestation has taken a severe form at some places while its intensity is seen to be less at other places.
According to the information of the Agriculture Department, farmers are spraying insecticides on cotton crop but it does not seem to have much effect.
Anyway, this time, especially in Punjab and Rajasthan, there has been a significant decline in the sowing area of cotton and farmers are quite worried due to the increase in the import of insects on the crop.
According to the information received, in districts like Mansa, Fazilka and Abohar in Punjab and Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and Anupgarh in Rajasthan, infestation of pink bollworm insect is being seen more on cotton crop.
Infestation of this insect is also being reported in some border districts of Haryana. It is worth noting that in these states, cotton is cultivated early and sowing is done during April-May.
The plants are in various stages of development but the flowering process has not started yet whereas the insects have started attacking them even before that. In some areas, the spread of insects has increased so much that farmers have uprooted the infected cotton plants and have ploughed the fields again.
In other areas, insecticides have to be sprayed to control insects and diseases, which is increasing the cost of the farmers.
According to rough estimates, the cost of spraying chemicals in one acre is about 2 thousand rupees.
In this way, a farmer who has to spray it in 10 acres has to spend 20 thousand rupees. Other expenses are separate from this.
The government has increased the minimum support price of cotton but its open market price is not very attractive.
In Punjab, there has been a continuous decline in the sowing area of cotton for the last four years, but the enthusiasm and attraction towards it among the farmers has decreased considerably. During the current year, the production area of cotton in the state has come down to less than one lakh hectare.