Experts against cultivating moong to save cotton crop
BATHINDA: : Even as the Punjab government is giving a big push to summer moong, farm experts have warned against the cultivation of the shortterm legume to contain the threat of deadly whitefly pest attack on the cotton crop, considered as an economic lifeline of farmers in the Malwa belt.
In 2015, the pest infestation had damaged the cotton crop on more than 3-lakh hectares in the semi-arid region.
After a gap of seven years, the state agriculture department is on its toes again to battle the whitefly threat and the experts say moong cultivation is a key factor contributing to the current pest alert.
Principal entomologist of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) Vijay Kumar said after the worst whitefly attack, an expert committee in 2016 had strongly recommended against moong cultivation in south Malwa.
“As unconventional large areas of cotton-growing districts opted this year to grow 60-day moong crop after harvesting rabi crops of wheat and mustard, whitefly raised a serious concern this time. Moong and seasonal horticulture crops are known hosts of whitefly and farmers should avoid cultivating the legume around cotton fields,” he said.
Hot and dry conditions this kharif season were conducive for whitefly and the pest migrates to cotton plants in the vicinity, he said.
“After infestation in 2015-16, a well-coordinated drive was launched and whitefly did not impact the cotton thereafter. Agencies should chalk out a dedicated pest management plan to fight whitefly in moong if they want to promote pulse farming. But the risk with cash crop should be avoided,” added Kumar, also a member of an inter-state consultative and monitoring committee of cotton-growing states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
For the first time this year, about 1.25 lakh acre area was brought under moong cultivation that was about 80% higher than 2021, when 55,000 acres was used to cultivate crop in rabi zaid (third crop sown between rabi and kharif seasons).
Surge in area under moong was attributed after chief minister Bhagwant Mann assured the crop would be purchased at an MSP of ₹ 7,225 per quintal.
As a measure to further incentivise moong cultivation, Mann announced the state government would pay up to ₹ 1,000 per quintal for compensating farmers who are selling their crop below the MSP in the market.
Information from various districts said the moong crop has reported the yellow mosaic virus attack that indicated a widespread population of whitefly in the region.
Mansa chief agriculture officer (CAO) Manjit Singh said whitefly is a carrier of the virus.
“Harvesting period of moong is underway this year and increase in cases of whitefly in cotton was observed. Though the situation is under control but we will motivate farmers to avoid moong from the next season,” he said.
Gurpreet Singh, CAO of Muktsar, another key cottonproducing district, said whitefly feeds on cotton and other plants and it reduces the photosynthetic activities of the plant further severely hitting the yield.
“Legume cultivation is ideal for paddy-growing areas as the deadly polyphagous pest feeds on cotton plants, not paddy. Farmer in the cotton-growing area should stay away from moong to minimise whitefly infestation,” he added.