COTTON CROP UNDER THREAT
Cotton is a fantastic success story in India, catapulting it to the highest rank as cotton producer and second largest exporter. From about 17 million bales in the early 2000’s, production was more than doubled, generating genuine export surplus for the world market till 2017. But after that the world’s largest producer of cotton, saw losses due to pest infestations and is expected to decrease its total cotton plantation sites for the 2018-19 season.
Pink bollworm infestation is pushing cotton production estimates down in India this year due to crop damage in the country’s major cotton growing states. In a major disappointment for new entrant farmers, cotton crop has come under severe pest and bollworm attacks in major producing states, which is sparking fears of a sharp decline in India's fibre productivity this Kharif season.
While a substantial cotton area came under whitefly attack in Punjab and Haryana, pink bollworm was reported to have attacked standing crop in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Consequently, analysts have started revising estimates of cotton output growth for the current season to 4-5 per cent now from 10 per cent earlier on a sharp increase in the menace caused by these bollworms.
Last year, many farmers in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana reported huge cotton output loss due to pink bollworm attack on the standing crop. The decline in output in major producing states prompted the government to reduce its cotton production forecast 5-7 per cent for harvesting season 2016-17.
India has seen a sharp increase in cotton production from a deficit country till two decades ago to one of the largest cotton producers. With its production between 33 and 38 million bales (one bale = 170 kg), India's annual cotton exports stand at 4-5 million bales. India sends cotton to China, Bangladesh and a number of other major textile manufacturing countries. Indian exports also include cotton yarn on a large scale to China and Bangladesh, among others destinations.
Bollworm management is based on scouting for eggs or small larvae. Treatment is recommended when 10 eggs or five small worms per 100 plants are present during early bloom in late July and early August. Preventative treatment that might be applied during the pre-bloom period is discouraged because this can destroy many beneficial forms that keep bollworms and other pests under control. Chemical control is seldom effective after worms exceed ½ inch in length (five days old, third instar). Once the cotton has blooms within four to five nodes of the top of the plant, the need for bollworm control is usually over for the season. However, the impact of late season treatments will depend on the weather and in some cases these late blooms can add to final yields and thus treatments may be justified if populations are heavy and the weather remains favorable.
News was reported that:
Pink bollworm infected 83 per cent cotton cultivation, says Maharashtra minister
By: Express News Service | Mumbai | Published: March 8, 2018
About 83 per cent of the farm land under cotton cultivation in Maharashtra have been ravaged by the pink bollworm attack, Agriculture Minister Pandurang Fundkar said on Wednesday. The pink bollworm (PBW) are known to eat away the cotton fibre and the bolls, causing economic losses to farmers. Fundkar informed the legislative assembly that the total crop loss had been measured at Rs 3,414 crore.
One of the ways to combat the moth is to set pheromone traps across their fields and catch enough of the male of the species to prevent any further breeding. But this primitive method of catching the Pink Bollworm is simply beyond the comprehension of the farmers. Firstly, you need at least 40 such traps per acre for these to be effective. Pheromones, mixed with natural ingredients like glossyplure, confuse the male moths who mistake the traps for females but farmers who have used it reported poor results.
Six farmers attempt suicide during protest in Maharashtra
Published by Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent │April 19, 2018
Indian farmers were protesting against government’s failure in not completing several development works when six farmers attempted suicide by drinking poison in front of the local administration’s office in Manvat, Parbhani district, Maharashtra, on Thursday.
On April 1, a 25-year-old distressed farmer, Bharat Survase, attempted suicide and is battling for life due to mounting debts and a failed cotton crop that was destroyed by the pink bollworm, a menace faced by cotton growers.
Earlier, a 75-year-old farmer from Yavatmal district had lighted his own pyre of fodder under a tree and immolated himself by jumping into the fire. The farmer, Madhav Shankar Rawate, had seen his cotton crop on his four-acre farm being destroyed by the pink bollworm attack. He owed Rs60,000 (Dh 3,346) to creditors.
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