Central team visits Punjab to assess impact of whitefly attack

A central team, which visited Punjab to assess the impact of whitefly attack on cotton crop, today asked the state government to be watchful and continuously monitor the crop to prevent damage.
However, the team led by Plant Protection Advisor S N Sushil while visiting the affected villages observed that there was no need to panic as situation was under control.
The team visited Abohar, Muktsar, Bathinda and Mansa areas of Punjab where whitefly pest attack has been spotted.
"We found two blocks in Abohar where the economic threshold limit in the current whitefly attack was more," Sushil said today.

"Out of 36,000 hectare of cotton area in 10-15 villages in Abohar, the whitefly attack was on 4,400 hectares which is about 10 per cent of the area," he said.
But the situation in Mansa, Bathinda and Muktsar areas was normal, he said.

"There was no need to panic at this stage as situation has not gone out of control," he said.
He emphasized that the state government should regularly monitor the crop.
"The state government has been asked to monitor the crop regularly. It should be monitored even after spraying affected areas with chemicals to see whether there is decline in population of whitefly with these measures. The government has to be watchful," Sushil said.

The team found that lack of rain in the affected areas also led to rise in population of pest. "Had there been rains, the population of whitefly must have come down. Now there is forecast that rain will occur here which will be beneficial," he said.
The team was also impressed with the steps taken by state government as scouts were deployed in villages to get latest information about the attack.
Central team which talked to growers also found that unlike last year, farmers did not resort to heavy used of insecticides.
"Farmers went for neem based biopesticides' which gave good results in tackling whitefly pest," he said. Sushil said the team will submit report to the Centre within a week.

"To prevent damage to the crop, farmers have been advised to spray chemicals to get rid of whitefly pest," said Punjab Agriculture Director J S Bain who was also part of the team.
Whitefly pest has again attacked cotton crop in Punjab,
threatening the kharif crop.
The whitefly attack on cotton crop which is now on flowering stage was visible in about 15 villages of Khuian Sarwar block of Abohar in Fazilka district.
Notably, the pest attack had caused widespread damage to Bt cotton varieties in Punjab and Haryana last year.
In Punjab, 1.36 lakh hectares out of total 4.50 lakh hectares of cotton acreage was ravaged by whitefly attack last season and the output had dropped by 40 per cent due to large scale pest attack.

This time the whitefly attack was spotted on cotton crop which was planted near orchards in Abohar which is known for Kinnow fruit.