No pink bollworm hotspot in Mansa district, says Khudian

Tribune News Service

Mansa, August 3
Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian recently visited several villages in Mansa to evaluate the condition of cotton crop.
The minister inspected cotton fields at Ramnagar Bhathal, Jhunir and Khiali Chehlan Wali villages.
He said the Agriculture Department surveyed 198 spots in Mansa and no hotspot of pink bollworm had been observed. Only three spots were found above Economic Threshold Level (ETL) for whitefly damage.
He added that as many as 128 pest surveillance teams had been formed under the supervision of Joint Director-level officers for regular monitoring of the cotton crop. These teams had been monitoring crop in Muktsar, Fazilka, Faridkot, Moga, Bathinda, Mansa, Barnala and Sangrur, he said.
The Agriculture Minister said 274 fields were surveyed in Bathinda district by 52 teams. Pest surveillance was done at 126 fields in Fazilka district by 15 teams, while 27 surveillance teams carried out inspection at 163 plots in Muktsar and 13 teams carried out surveillance in Mansa.
He said intensive surveillance had been carried out by these teams and farmers were being advised to use insecticides recommended by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU).
“Farmers have been advised to irrigate the crop to enhance growth and manage whitefly attack,” he added.