Punjab: There may be a major reduction in cotton yield due to pest attack
Bathinda: With the cotton marketing season for 2022-23 almost over, cotton (raw cotton) arrives. Nearly a third have been recorded in Punjab. Previous year, 2021-22. Both record the advent of the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board (PSAMB), which Various crops in the mandis, and cotton-trading body the Indian Cotton Association Limited (ICAL), have also reported the same.
According to PSAMB, cotton arrivals in the 2022-23 marketing season till August 5 this year have been recorded at 8.7 lakh quintals, while for the entire 2021-22 it was 28.89 lakh quintals. ICAL records arrival of 2.52 lakh bales (1 bales 170 kg as against 7.19 lakh bales till August this year, cotton area in Punjab to remain almost the same in 2021-22 at around 2.5 lakh ha, usually cotton arrivals 31 July By almost ends August and September are negligible.
In the past, there has been an outbreak of pests like white fly and pink bollworm. This was cited as the main reason behind the big drop in production. Poor seed and fertilizer quality is also being seen as a reason. Farmers also claim that the pesticides supplied to them are of poor quality and have failed to control the pest attacks. In view of the transition, the sowing of the crop has come down from below 2 lakh hectares in the last few years to 1.75 per cent, reported consistently for two lakh hectares in the 2023-24 season. This also happened when the state government was giving more emphasis on the crop. Diversification and cotton was being looked at as an option. The bad days for water-drinking paddy co-cotton really began in 2015, when a whitefly attack was first reported on the crop, destroying nearly half the crop. Thereafter, the acreage of cotton began to decline and farmers' production continued. Some people are facing miseries with few exceptions. years thereafter. Even cotton prices are crashing
Psychological barrier of Rs 10,000 per quintal (very high). minimum support price) failed to enthuse growers. “We were growing cotton for a long time, but frequent pest attacks forced us to switch to paddy.
The cotton belt which includes Bathinda, Mansa, Fazilka and. Muktsar is the major cotton producing district of Punjab. To make matters worse, even the latest cotton crop on 1.75 lakh hectares faced problems of its own kind. Firstly, there was an attack of pests on the crop at an early stage of the season. Parts of Bhathida, Mansa and Fazilka later caused problems for the farmers due to heavy rains. An official in the Punjab agriculture and farmers' welfare department, who did not wish to be named, said efforts were being made to protect the crop from the pest attack. Farmers are being advised to use the spray when needed.
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