Cotton crop is infested by pink bollworm and white fly.
This year too, cotton crop in Haryana and Punjab is facing the attack of white fly and pink bollworm. Like the last two years, this time too these pests have damaged the crop, forcing farmers to till their crops. Some farmers who have access to water are planting late varieties of paddy, while other farmers have started uprooting the crop to minimize their losses.
However, in the previous years, the cotton crop had suffered heavy losses due to pink bollworm attack, the same is expected to happen this time too. In some villages of Fazilka, farmers are uprooting their crops and preparing to plant rice variety. According to the agriculture department, some hotspots of infection have been identified, but so far the attack of pests is within the prescribed limit.
Jaswant Singh, director of agriculture department of Punjab, has admitted that there have been reports of farmers uprooting cotton crop. Farmers who have provided PR 126 variety of paddy seedlings are only able to uproot half of the crop.
Haryana farmers are also facing the attack of white fly and pink bollworm this year. Satpal Bhadu, who grows cotton in 30 acres, has planted cotton in only 10 acres and now his crop is being attacked by pests. Sukhbir Manju, a resident of Khajuri-Jaati village in Fatehabad, had also given priority to rice crop, but now even the cotton crop has been attacked by pests.
In this situation, farmers may have to make new plans for future crops and hope for more assistance from the government.
