Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian pushes for cotton cultivation in Malwa region
2025-05-07 11:19:19
Minister Khudian Promotes Cotton Farming in Malwa
Chandigarh: Punjab agriculture and farmers welfare minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian on Tuesday directed the chief agriculture officers of eight districts in the Malwa region to train and guide the farmers on modern cotton farming techniques.
He also emphasised ensuring strict compliance with the pest control measures and enhancing monitoring.The directions came following a review of the block-wise progress of the cotton cultivation across the eight districts of Malwa region – Fazilka, Muktsar, Bathinda, Mansa, Barnala, Sangrur, Moga, and Faridkot.
"The state has set an ambitious target of bringing 1.25 lakh hectares under cotton cultivation this season," said Khudian.The minister mentioned that the Punjab govt had announced a 33% subsidy on BT cotton hybrid seeds recommended by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. This initiative aims to reduce input costs for cotton growers while discouraging the cultivation of non-recommended hybrid seeds, he said.
The goal is to enable farmers to adopt high-yielding and pest-resistant BT cotton hybrid seeds, Khudian added.
Notably, the PAU recommended 87 high-yielding, pest-resistant hybrid cotton seed varieties tailored for optimal growth in the state's agro-climatic conditions.
To address the persistent issue of pink bollworm infestation, Khudian reviewed the status of managing and cleaning cotton stalks and leftover residues from the previous season, which serve as breeding grounds for the pink bollworm. He further informed that a weed eradication campaign had also been initiated in the cotton belt for the management of whitefly.
The minister asked the chief agriculture officers to ensure monitoring of pink bollworm in ginning factories and fumigation of cotton stock to control pink bollworm larvae in the ginneries.
