Season for cotton is about to end in Maharashtra and this year also witnessed persistent assaults of Pink Boll Worms (PBW) on the harvest. To break the existing pattern of PBW, the Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Agriculture Universities of the region have recommended the cotton farmers to end their cotton crop in Maharashtra by the end of December.
Yet, many cotton-developing districts in Maharashtra still have crops in their fields. As indicated by the State Sowing report for the current Kharif season, the harvest area for cotton is 42.83 lakh hectares and 41.83 lakh hectares is the average. In dominant regions, such as Yavatmal and Jalgaon, cotton was planted on 4.65 lakh hectares and 5.30 lakh hectares.
Despite the warning, cotton growers are still continuing to retain their crops till January or February every year that helps the Pink Boll Worms with keeping up with the existence cycle till next planting season, ranges between May end or early June. said Pramod Magar, Agriculture Scientist and Entomologist, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Yavatmal.
Cycle Needs to be broken:
Population for PBW continues to expand prompting assaults in the following season. Hence ending the harvest is basic to end assaults of PBW. A hole should be made in the feeding cycle of the bugs, Mr. Magar added. Mr. Magar also said that in a PBW-pervaded plant, some cotton bowls remain halfway wrecked with some cotton left in the dishes, consequently, the farmers keep up such unhealthy plants in the fields with a craving to get some lingering cotton. Because of such practices, the populace continues getting developed prompting assaults in the following season.
An authority at the Maharashtra Agriculture Commissioner office said that very nearly 33% of the harvest is as yet remaining in Yavatmal. The farmers ought to have been in the last phases of eliminating the harvest and setting up the dirt for planting summer crops. Yet, availability of labour is likewise an issue in the Vidarbha area.
Temperature as a factor:
Winter starts by the month of October in the major cotton growing regions such as Marathwada, Khandesh and Vidarbha. The temperature difference between the day and night ranges between 10 to 15 degree Celsius, which is optimum for PBW infestation, said Pramod Magar.
“ On the off chance that the PBW contagion cycle must be intruded, at that point the yield should be eliminated from the field by December or by most recently January 15. In Punjab there are less episodes of PBW assaults since farmers after second picking of cotton eliminate the harvest and clear a path for different yields, for example, wheat”, said CD Mayee, Vice-President of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Post January 15, all the cotton plant stalks should be eliminated and obliterated or shipped off to biomass creators for making briquettes. At the point when the temperature escalates in Maharashtra after the month of January, the sun helps in breaking the PBW in the dirt, Mayee said.
On the contrary, Milind Damle, a farmer from Yavatmal, said that the farmers continue to hold their crop right till January and February because they can pick the cotton for the fourth or the fifth time. Residual cotton also has economic value, he said.
