LAHORE, Oct 2: Vast areas of Punjab’s cotton land have been reduced to near wasteland because of a severe attack by American and Army pests, and their impact has turned out to be more devastating in the absence of needed pesticides. Growers of the cotton belt fear a 20 to 30 per cent reduction in yield.

Heavy rains, followed by humid conditions conducive for pest proliferation seem to have scuttled the produce to less than one third of the usual produce on many farms while some growers place their yield at no more than two maunds per acre, down from 10 to 14 maunds for the same area.

Mian Saleem, a grower from cotton heartland Multan, says that the total yield this year is unlikely to cross eight million bales. The government had set a target of 11.2 million bales for the current crop.

He said that Lodhran area was hit by such a severe pest attack that it could be treated as almost out for the count while in Multan, “at least 60 per cent of the standing crop has been seriously damaged.” Pest attacks started in August and “we tried to counter it with sprays, but since pesticides was not available from September 10 our all efforts turned out to be a futile exercise,” he said. Mian Saleem has farms in both Lodhran and Multan.

Confirming these evaluations, Mazhar Abbas Gardezi, another agriculturist from Multan said that the need for additional spraying of the crop had been a major financial burden for farmers and in some cases the pesticides turned out to be spurious.

Further, the crops were under attack from American and Army sundi plus haliothis, requiring different pesticides for countering them. If remedy for one pest was available, the other worm continued to gnaw at the crop because the market had no pesticide for eliminating it.

He said that farmers had been purchasing some sprays at Rs600 per litre while their original cost was about Rs300 to Rs350 per litre.

According to Azra Sheikh, a cotton grower from Bahawalpur, the attack of Army worm—farmers also call it ‘lashkari’ sundi— has been unprecedented and has reached such proportions that the pests were crawling all over; they were not merely confined to fields but were moving along water courses and roads around cotton fields.

Asked to assess the yield from her lands, she said this was too early because picking has not yet started. “We are simply trying to obtain sprays to protect whatever has been left of the crop. The correct picture would emerge after picking gets under way.

Dr Zahoor Ahmed, former Director of Central Cotton Research Institute of Multan who had led the research in the nineties for producing virus resistant varieties, told Dawn that loss of crop cannot be estimated but lack of pesticides has definitely affected standing crops and damaged them extensively.

While reports from Sindh had suggested a good crop that would meet the 2.4 million-bale target set for the province by the federal government, many farmers of Punjab’s cotton areas have been exchanging notes with their counterparts in Sindh and say that the crop in Dadu, Mirpur and some districts adjacent to southern Punjab also suffered pest attack and their crop has been substantially damaged.

It seems that 50 per cent of the crop in Sindh has been picked but the remaining fields have been badly affected and there is ‘bound to be a loss of yield in Sindh too’. According to information available here, pesticides are in short supply in Sindh also.

Haji Arshad, a progressive farmer of RahimYar Khan told Dawn over telephone that ‘more than 50 per cent of the crop in the district was washed away by rains or eaten up by pests. He said that the yield was down to ‘one to one and a half maund per acre in some fields’.

Punjab Agriculture Department’s Information wing confirmed that damage to crops in Rahim Yar Khan, Khanpur, Multan, Lodhran and some other parts of the cotton belt in lower Punjab had been considerable. A spokesman of the department pointed out that at one stage, Khanpur had received 124mm rain in a single day. “That undermined the crop no end and made plant protection extremely difficult”, he said. He conceded that shortage of pesticides was one of the reasons why the crop could not be protected after pest attacks in some areas.

He, however, felt that the target of eight million bales from Punjab could still be met as cultivation area had increased. Target for cotton cultivation in the province was 5.40 million acres but in the end, the crop was sown on nearly six million acres due to efforts of the government to bring new lands under cotton.

The spokesman of a pesticide firm admitted that the quantity of sprays in the market was not sufficient to fulfil the farmer’s needs in a crisis-like situation but, he said that, ‘ this was due to the fact that pesticide formulation companies have not been given a level-playing field. The sector needs incentives to import more so that emergencies can be countered but conditions disallowed heavy investment as unused pesticides cannot be easily disposed of and that causes huge losses to the companies’.

He said that the prevailing arrangements did not permit import on an emergency basis. Imports take time. He also said that a more efficient pest warning system can help farmers take precautions and guide pesticide companies for making timely arrangements to make a greater contribution towards ensuring a good crop.