Bathinda: The mercury has started rising with the mercury rising above 40 degree Celsius making the weather hot and humid. The ideal time for cotton sowing is fast approaching but less than half of the target area has been recorded in Punjab. According to the State Agriculture Department, cotton has been sown in 1.21 lakh hectares till May 15 against the target of three lakh hectares.
The crop was grown on 2.48 lakh hectares in the previous year and the state government had set a target of a 20% increase in the current season. To attract farmers to cotton by pulling them from the watershed to paddy, the state government also offered 33 per cent subsidy on Bollgard-II (BG-II) seeds. However, according to the sowing trend.
The optimum time for cotton sowing is considered when the temperature hovers between 30°-35°C, which normally lasts till May 15. Under such temperature, germination and growth of plants is expected in line and it gets first irrigation after about one month. But with the rise in temperature and the conditions getting hotter and moist, the chances of germination becoming erratic or the plant getting burnt in the scorching heat are high. The number of plants, which is usually 1,80,000-2,00,000 inches at sowing stage, decreases under normal conditions and as the insects grow, the crop becomes more vulnerable to insect attack under moist conditions. Pests Due to two consecutive crop losses (if not failures). The attack and excessive rains have eroded the confidence of the farmers and they are turning to paddy for assured returns. The cotton crop in 2021 was damaged due to pink bollworm and in 2022 it was white fly and pink bollworm to some extent apart from excessive rains at the most inopportune times. The cotton crop had actually started going down after 2015 when the whitefly attack took place
For the first time about 60% crop damage was reported. Thereafter it moved downwards and reached the lowest level of 2.48 lakh hectares in 2022 sowing season. Even though cotton touched Rs 10,000 per quintal and is stable at Rs 8,000 per quintal, which is much higher than the MSP, for much of 2020 and 2021, and yet in 2022, the damage done by the pest The producer failed to revive the trust.
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Team Sis
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