Many farmers in Bathinda district witnessed severe damage of cotton crop in about 60 acres due to incessant rain earlier in July. District agriculture officials have submitted reports to the Agriculture Department about the damage.
They uprooted the damaged cotton crop had sown basmati in their fields. Earlier, these farmers, fearing the attack of whitefly, had sprayed pesticides on their crops but after incessant rain, water accumulated in the fields that damaged the cotton crop.
“Farmers in Sangat block of Bathinda district lost their crop as rainwater accumulated in their fields. They uprooted the cotton crop and sowed basmati. The condition was same in Bajak and Gudha. Collectively, farmers suffered losses in about 60 acres,” said chief agriculture officer RK Singla.
Villager Gurinder Singh from Bajak said, “Farmers are distressed over the damage to cotton crop. We were earlier happy that monsoon was good this time and mild rain could stave off the whitefly attack. However, in a number of areas, the attack of whitefly has increased due to increased humidity.”
Cotton farmers in Bathinda and Mansa districts are facing severe attack of whitefly that seems to have been out of control even after a number of sprays of pesticides.
The Bathinda Agriculture Department had demanded about 15,000 litres of oberon pesticide, a newly recommended pesticide by PAU (Punjab Agriculture University) for cotton crop.
“One litre of oberon pesticide costs us about Rs 1,800 on 50 per cent subsidy whereas it will now cost us more than Rs 3,400 without subsidy. The whitefly is out of control as many farmers are using different pesticides. The input cost with the usage of more pesticides has also increased. The attack of whitefly has been witnessed two months earlier in comparison to last years,” said farmer Sukha Singh of Ghudha village.
Source - http://www.tribuneindia.com
