LAHORE, Aug 8: The cotton crop in Punjab is suffering an early White Fly attack because of the heavy wet spell which the officials claim is under control so far but could cause “substantial damage” to the crop according to farmers and pesticide traders.

According to an official of the food, agriculture and livestock ministry and the farmers, the White Fly normally hits the crop by early or mid-September. But, this time, the attack started in late July and was still persisting in many areas.

The White Fly attack is coupled with the invasion of almost all other possible sucking pests and bollworms, thus exposing the crop, standing on over eight million acres, to unusual dangers. The situation, the stakeholders say, needs urgent attention.

According to Federal Minister (Minfal) Sikander Hayat Khan Bosan, the attack is “unusual” and has certainly alarmed the ministry. But, he said, the second rain spell in cotton areas had helped control the fly.

He said the ministry was also keeping a close watch on the pesticide situation in the country. It convened a meeting of the representatives of the pesticide companies a few days ago to review the situation. The companies had been told, and they also promised, to quickly import required pesticides in case usual attack hit the crop in September as well. The ministry would also be monitoring import process to pre-empt possibility of any delay in it, he said.

Federal Cotton Commissioner Dr Masood Amjad says that situation is under control so far, but it can worsen if the second attack occurs. The pesticide dealers had promised to arrange the required pesticides within next 20 days, he claimed.

Luckily, he said, the cotton areas had largely remained “safe” from current rain spell as it only rained once there. That’s why no large-scale damage was possible to cotton crop on account of current white fly attack. But, he warned, the next attack could cause much harm if it also occurred earlier than expected and caught the farmers and the ministry “un-prepared”.

However, the pesticide companies contested the claim of the minister and the commissioner, saying it was virtually impossible to import anti-White Fly drugs in 20 days. The process at least takes almost 40 days if “everything remains fine.” “It takes around 10 days to clear the permission procedure with the government and around 30 days to ship the pesticides even if the company quickly gets the ships, which is a rarity,” says a company man from Lahore.

He suggested the government must set up a monitoring cell to oversee the import process and facilitate importers if it wanted to be on the safe side on cotton crop. The monitoring process should include everything from opening of letters of credit (LCs) to placing of order to clearing at the port, he said. The government must facilitate pesticide import through all possible means to get these in time and save the cotton crop.”

“The crisis only drives home a point that Pakistan should encourage indigenous manufacturing of pesticides,” says Muhammad Latif, a pesticide dealer in the city. All the local stakeholders of the trade wonder why the government had not been able to form policy for local manufacturing of the pesticides to avert potential crisis that occurs almost every year at crucial stages of the cotton crop, he wondered.

The farmers also contested the official version, saying the cotton crop was under threat from not only White Fly, but also from many other pests and bollworms.

The situation in the field is entirely different from the official version, says Rao Afser Ali Khan from Rajanpur.He said the government must plan on long-term basis, rather than taking ad hoc measures. The only manufacturing plant built in Punjab was being shifted out of the country because the government was either unable or unwilling to formulate any policy on pesticides manufacturing, he deplored.