‘Climate-smart cotton varieties need of the hour’
There are light rains in the cotton belt in Sindh. The soil has absorbed the rainwater instead of it standing in the fields. A similar quantum of rains is needed for a good output of cotton this season. PHOTO: REUTERS
South Punjab Agriculture Secretary Saqib Ali Ateel said on Tuesday that scientific and agriculture universities were direly needed to be on the same page to successfully confront the challenge of declining cotton production.
During a visit to Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan, Ateel said climate-smart cotton varieties were the need of the hour to counter problems of weather change, rise in temperature, water shortage and Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV). He identified whitefly and pink bollworm as the biggest cotton enemies and the main factors behind the decrease in cotton production during the last five years.
He asked researchers to speed up research on varieties having resistance against whitefly and pink bollworm and suggested that bio-pesticides be incorporated in their trials. “Otherwise such pesticides should be used which do not kill friendly pests,” he added. Ateel disclosed that a new cotton calendar was being prepared for on-season and off-season management of cotton crop adding that all cotton related activities would revolve around the new calendar in the future.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2020.