Bollworm infestation makes fibre crop less attractive

AHMEDABAD: A 50-year-old farmer committed suicide in Dhoraji town of Rajkot on Sunday evening fearing crop failure because of pink bollworm. Harsukh Patel the deceased decided to commit suicide, but several farmers in the state are destroying their cotton crop and are switching over to other crops like pulses and groundnut.

The pink bollworm is a major factor for the increased cultivation of pulses because of widespread infestation of the cotton crop due to pink bollworm. Several farmers, especially in Saurashtra, replacing their already sown cotton crop and are planting pulses instead of their usual cotton crop.

Sanjay Gadhiya, a farmer from Gadhda village in Paddhdhari taluka of Rajkot district says: “I went in for early sowing of cotton, but later realized that the crop has been infested with pink bollworm. I decided to uproot the undeveloped cotton crop and replace it with tur and soyabean. I have removed the cotton crop from some 10 bighas, and will do so on two more bighas soon.”

Gadhiya said he wanted to make good the Rs 25,000 loss he incurred from sowing cotton and hence decided to go in for pulses.

Davendra Muliya, a resident of Taragadi village, says he sowed cotton on 150 bighas, but replaced it with dal and ajwain. He further said that several farmers in his village have also started changing their crop.

Govind Nagar of Chotra village in Rajula said farmers in his village opted to sow groundnut instead of cotton from the outset, because they had suffered huge losses last year due to the pink bollworm infestation.

R K Siyani, professor of agriculture economics at Junagadh Agriculture University, said: “Farmers are opting to sow pulses because they are getting good prices for their crop, compared to the low MSP for cotton. Farmers are realizing that they were a better price and are moving to pulses. Beside this, the relatively late sowing also favours pulses.”

Dharmrajsinh Jethva, associate research scientist with the department of entomology at Junagadh Agricultural University said: “We are raising awareness among farmers that they needn’t destroy the crop because JAU has come out with a solution to destroy the bollworm. We have developed a light trap which catches bollworm moths that lay the eggs. An effective pesticide has also been found, and this pesticide is distributed to some 400 farmers every day.”