Experts warn farmers of pest attacks on cotton crops

Earlier UAF and Parb ink agreement to manage such threats

MULTAN: Agricultural experts have warned farmers of pink bollworm attacks on cotton crops during the months of September and October.

An agriculture official said on Wednesday that cotton crop was passing through a critical stage these days as a number of enemy pests attack the crops.

“Attack by pink bollworm usually intensifies in September and October and farmers should install pheromone traps to check it,” he added.



Experts warned farmers against the practice of applying pesticides before the pest attack as a precautionary measure. “It is a wrong practice. The agriculture department would never recommend application of pesticides before the pest attack,” the official maintained.

“It is recommended only when the pest infestation reaches beyond the economic threshold level (ETL).”

He pointed out that if farmers apply pesticides against pink bollworm before its attack, it would promote white fly infestation and create resistance in other pests against the pesticides.

The official advised farmers to apply pesticides against pink bollworm after pest scouting by some experts. “In case it is found to have reached ETL then farmers should apply pesticides after consulting agriculture officials,” he said.



Earlier, the Punjab Agriculture Research Board (Parb) and the Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) inked an agreement for kicking off projects worth Rs75 million to manage the threat posed by whitefly and pink bollworm that inflict a loss of billions to the national economy.

As part of the agreement, the UAF, Ayub Research Institute, Cotton Research Institute Multan, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Agriculture University Multan, Nuclear Institute for Biology, Central Cotton Research Institute and NIBGE will work together to tackle the pest and insect threat to crops. They will develop whitefly management strategies based on integrated pest management programmes and introduce insect-resistant cotton germplasm through genetic engineering.

For developing sustainable management strategies for pink bollworm, scientists will assess the spread of the insect, weather vagaries and their relationship.

They voiced hope that the projects would lead to improvement in crop yields, increase in exports, decrease in imports and better input efficiency.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2017.