Punjab govt.'s effort for cotton farmers

Cotton has been an important crop in the Indian agriculture sector and its economy, it being the dominant factor in Indian textile industry. Punjab being the contributor of the most cotton that India produces, has a responsibility of its own to procure the best quality and quantity. And in that effort, the Punjab agriculture department has devised a new plan to tackle the whitefly attack on cotton. The department has decided to reach out to the gurdwaras in approximately 1,000 villages in seven districts of Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Fazilka, Faridkot, Moga, Barnala, where the crop is grown. They will appeal to the farmers day and night and make them aware of the methods to tackle pest attack. The cotton crop suffers from pest attacks like whitefly, bollworm, pink bollworm and such. The farmers will be informed about the spray for the crop as per recommendations of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. Publicity vans will be sent to the villages to make the farmers familiar with the measures to be adopted to tackle whitefly attack. Officials visited the farms for quick investigation to report and analyze the same. Following the chief minister's instructions to make sustained efforts to contain the attack of whitefly on cotton, agriculture department and the PAU officials have pulled up their socks. Top brass of the state agriculture department led by MP Singh, additional chief secretary and financial commissioner (development), and PAU officials, led by vice-chancellor Baldev Singh Dhillon, held meetings at Bathinda on Saturday to find out ways to control the probable pest attack.