Bathinda: The Whitefly, a common pest found in crops, has affected the cotton crop in Punjab's Malwa region, destroying not only the yield, but also the lives of the farmers involved. “It was just like the Japanese air strike in the film Pearl Harbour,” said Naresh Kumar Lehri, a seed and pesticide dealer at Singho village in Punjab's Bathinda district “They appeared out of no where and left a trail of destruction.” The pest has affected two thirds of standing cotton crop in the state, causing an estimated loss of £420 million.
The whole agriculture sector lies in a mess as reports of at least 15 cotton farmers committing suicide circulated and dealers sell spurious pesticides. Farmers have blocked traffic and demanded compensation while the Akali Dal-led NDA has announced a compensation package of £64 million. Over the years, the whitefly has regularly attacked cotton plants only to be controlled by the use of intensive chemical pesticides. However, this year, despite introducing a new pesticide, the pest issue has spun out of control.
“Since July, we have sprayed pesticide 10-12 times. Each spray costs about £33 per acre. But the whitefly was unaffected,” said a Manjeet Singh in Singho village, standing on four acres of his withered cotton crop.
