Pink bollworm attack destroys hopes of cotton farmers in Adilabad
Agri officers late in going to the field and advising farmers on the pests
ADILABAD: The menace of pink bollworm is likely to hit cotton yield and bring losses to farmers this Kharif in Adilabad district.
Some farmers are removing and burning plants affected by pink bollworm to prevent it from spreading to other areas in the fields.
There is a likelihood of 30-40 percent fall in cotton yield and there will be lesser chances of second cotton-picking due to pink bollworm. It is spreading fast in Jainad, Bela and Talamadugu, Tamsi and Adilabad, Boath mandals.
Farmers are complaining that there is no bust due to pink bollworm and plants are getting damaged while some have dried up. It is said that the life expectancy of the pink bollworm has been extended due to bad weather conditions following heavy rains.
The distressed farmers are removing plants affected by pink bollworm and burning heaps of them. Some farmers are planning a second crop in Rabi after removing the standing cotton crop.
Farmers without irrigation facilities will be major losers since they cannot go for the second crop. Farmers say that officials have failed to estimate the damage caused to the standing cotton crop in the Kharif season.
Agriculture department officials were late in going to the field to educate the farmers on how to get rid of pink bollworm.
Meanwhile, farmers with irrigation facilities are preparing to go for Bengal gram, maize and jowar as the second crop in Rabi.
It is said that the tenant farmers will suffer huge losses, especially those who took the land on a lease of Rs. 20,000 per acre.
Srinivas Reddy of Kothur village in Talamadugu removed plants affected with the pink bollworm and burnt the plants. He said many farmers were confident of a good yield this season since they never anticipated the pink bollworm attack.
‘Many farmers were shocked to see pink bollworms inside all the cotton bolls’, he said and regretted that even agriculture officials had failed to alert them about possible pink bollworm attack.
According to official sources, as many as 4,21,343 farmers have cultivated cotton in 1,33,838 acres in Adilabad district and agriculture officials have estimated that Kharif will have 47,93,390 quintals of cotton yield.
But, the estimation has suffered a jolt because of rains, damage to standing crop and pink bollworm.