Cotton crop under white fly attack,over 2,000 hectares affected

Cotton growers in Abohar,Fazilka and Khuainsarvar area have a growing pest problem at hand. According to rough estimates of the Agriculture department...

Cotton growers in Abohar,Fazilka and Khuainsarvar area have a growing pest problem at hand. According to rough estimates of the Agriculture department,more than 2,000 hectare is under the attack of white flies which is causing leaf curl disease in the cotton crop. The cause of worry the insect is multiplying at a rapid pace.

Chief Agriculture Officer Bakshish Singh Chahal held a meeting in Ferozepur on Wednesday to discuss the problem and ways to tackle it. Farmers have also been put on high alert. While water scarcity is said to be a major cause of the plant disease,the sowing of cotton seeds in or near kinnow orchards can also be responsible.

It is learnt that in Abohar alone,nearly 800 hectare is under white fly attack while the crop on nearly four hectare has been completely damaged and had to be ploughed by farmers.

In Gobindpura village in Abohar,farmer Sarvan Kumar lost his entire cotton crop and is now sowing cereals. In Daulatpura village in Khuaisarvar area too,farmers are uprooting their crop. In Fazilka,more than 200 hectare and 1,000 hectare in Khuaisarvar area is under the attack of white flies.

Chahal,meanwhile,said: In Gobindpura,a farmer had sowed the cotton seeds in an orchard and we dont recommend that. While in daulatpura,the crop was sown along an orchard and it became prone to pest attack.

We have recommended certain sprays but several farmers are using some other pesticides due to which the disease is not being controlled. In far off areas,reduced water supply is the major reason,but the attack is on a few patches in the fields instead of the entire crop, he said.

The spread of the disease has intensified over the last one week and the Agriculture department is holding farmer training camps at present.

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