White flies attack over 2,000 ha of cotton crop

06 Aug '10

2 min read

Cotton cultivators in Abohar, Fazilka and Khuainsarvar districts are now faced with a problem of increasing pests in the area.

As per raw data's of the Agriculture department, over 2,000 hectares of area is hit by white flies, which is contaminating cotton produce with leaf curl disease. The main cause of concern here is that these pests are rapidly growing in number.

While short supply of water is believed to be a main cause, responsible for this plant disease, possibilities of cotton seeds being sown in or nearby kinnow orchards cannot be ruled out either.

It is only in Abohar that the cotton crop on around 800 hectares of land has been affected by these insects. Also, farmers in a village in Khuainsarvar are uprooting their crops. Where the total area affected by these white flies in Fazilka is above 200 hectares, the same is 1,000 hectares in Khuainsarvar.

In spite of that, government has suggested some insecticides to spray, in order to avoid the aforesaid insects. But a majority of the cultivators are utilizing other sprays, which have rendered the disease to be uncontrollable. In distant areas too, scarce water supply is the major cause, but then only particular patches and not the entire crop in the fields are infected with the disease.

The disease commenced last week, and has rapidly spread, affecting the entire field. Despite all this, the Agriculture department is not organizing training camps for farmers, which can help them protect their crops and prevent this deadly spreading disease.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India

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