Mahendragarh: Pink bollworm attacks early sown cotton crop

Tribune News Service

Ravinder Saini

Mahendragarh, June 9

Kanina and Narnaul blocks of the district have reported attack of pink bollworm on the early sown cotton crop, forcing the local office of the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department to sound an alert advising farmers to adopt necessary measures to protect their crops.

The cotton crop has been sown in over 45,000 acres in the district. Pink bollworm attacks the flower buds, leading to losses up to 50 per cent.

The crop, at present, is in the initial stage in the district, but the early attack has raised the possibility of an outbreak of the insect in later stages this season, sources said. Sources maintained that last year, the insect wreaked havoc in the district by causing losses up to 25 per cent in cotton crops. As a result of that, the Agriculture Department has decided to make farmers aware in advance about a possible attack by the insect so that they could deal with the situation without much trouble.

Yogesh Chander, Assistant Plant Protection Officer (APPO), Narnaul, said since it was the beginning of an attack on the early sown cotton crop, a special strategy had been chalked out to counter the problem.

“Camps will be organised at village level to make farmers aware of the attack and precautionary measures to protect their crops. Agriculture officials have been asked to carry out field visits regularly to keep a tab on the situation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Inderjit Singh, vice-president, All-India Kisan Sabha, said cotton farmers were big sufferers on the account of adoption of BT cotton in recent years. “BT seed has been fraudulently claimed by seed companies to be pest-resistant initially. It quickly replaced the indigenous ‘desi’ seed. On the contrary, it proved to be the most susceptible to pests, especially the pink bollworm. Unfortunately, the Agriculture Department failed to intervene on time,” he added.

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