Due to massive invasion of pink bollworm pest and sukaro (para wilt) disease, cotton production in Gujarat, which is also the largest producer of this staple fibre in India, may drop by 30 percent.
Agriculture experts and farmers far that the production may fall to a five year low to less than 90 lakh bales—down from 125 lakh bales in 2014-15. The lower production threatens to hit the textile trade apart from the farmers.
Thousands of cotton growers in Saurashtra and north and central Gujarat have been forced to destroy their standing crop, rendered useless due to infection, which is unprecedented in magnitude. In fact, after the pest attack destroyed his cotton grown on 85 bigha land, a 30-year-old farmer from Supedi village near Rajkot, committed suicide, being the first victim of the crisis.
N M Sharma, Managing Director, Gujarat State Co-operative Cotton Federation Ltd (Gujcot) beleives that cotton production will be 30 percent less this year. The area under sowing in 2015-16 was already down at around 27 lakh hectares as against 30 lakh hectares the previous year as farmers switched to other cash crops like groundnut, he added. Sharma further stated that the production may not cross 90 lakh bales, which is the lowest in five years.
Dilip Patel, President, All Gujarat Ginners Association said that the yarn market was reeling under slowdown and mills were already facing problems due to subdued textile market. Dr K L Raghvani, Head of Entomology department at Junagadh Agricultural University said that the pest can be controlled only if it's detected early and once it enters the cotton balls, pesticides are not effective.
