Desi cotton fails to bring cheer

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, January 24

Farmers who shifted to desi cotton from BT variety on recommendation by agricultural scientists are a disappointed lot. They claim to have incurred heavy losses due to low crop yield.

A committee of experts from agricultur universities in Punjab and Haryana and the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) had advised the farmers to opt for desi cotton to avoid the whitefly attack.

Those who opted for desi variety rue low yield on account of early maturing of the crop. Jagdish Kumar, a farmer of Bahbalpur village, said, “I sowed desi cotton in two acres and got a yield of just 80 kg whereas the input cost is Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per acre.”

Another farmer Dalip Singh said desi variety yielded two quintals from one acre, adding the plants were destroyed by heat, adding he had to uproot the crop a month in advance.

Rambhagat, a farmer, claimed BT variety had better yield this time as there was no whitefly attack.

However, Rajiv Bhatia, agriculture officer, claimed that rain may have damaged the crop at the maturing stage, adding there was no wilting which would have harmed the crops.