There will be no shortage of anti mealy bug and Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) pesticides in 2008-09, a senior official of the Food Ministry told Business Recorder here on Tuesday.
A meeting was held a few days back in the Commerce Ministry that was attended by the representatives of the Food Ministry where it was ascertained by the Agriculture Pesticides Technical Advisory Committee that the country has abundant stocks of the pesticides and would be able to meet its demand in the forthcoming cotton season.
Last year, the government failed to store adequate quantity of pesticides which resulted in a price rise in the local market which, in turn, raised cost of inputs of the farmers. Last year, the mealy bug virus affected the standing cotton crop of an area in excess of 150,000 acres out of a total 8,000,000 acres in the cotton producing belt of Punjab and Sindh; while on the whole, it damaged 12 percent of the crop.
The insect weakens the plants by sucking the sap from leaves, twigs, stems, and sometimes from the roots. The attack mostly occurs on branches and leaves.
"There was acute shortage of Prosenofous Group of pesticides, Border and Supracide used against the insects attacks on cotton in the domestic market and consequently, the Food Ministry had to import 3,000 tons pesticides through six importers," the same official added.
Official told this scribe that the growers have to spray more than three times on the crop to save it from destruction. "The main reason behind the lower cotton production in 2007-08 is this bitter reality that the prices of the imported pesticides last year were beyond the purchasing power of the growers," the official revealed. The official said that the issues related to the exports of the agro-products were also discussed in the meeting.