LAHORE, Aug 9: The attack of the `milli bug’ virus continues in some parts of the Punjab which the farmers fear could substantially damage the cotton crop if specific pesticide was not made available quickly enough.

The attack could be particularly damaging if seen in the backdrop of reduction in fertiliser use in Kharif crop, particularly DAP and potash. Both these fertilisers make the crop resistant against the virus, and the lack of their use has made the crop vulnerable to various diseases, farmers claim.

That was the reason why the crop was under attack from almost every variety of sucking pest and bollworms, they said. The Milli Bug received more attention because it was a relatively new phenomenon; otherwise, the curve leave virus was also seen more than it was in the last year, and so were other bugs, they claimed.

On the other hand, the government officials claim that situation is under control so far. Barring any unforeseen crisis, the situation should not spin out of hand, they say.

According to Dr Masood Amjad, Federal Cotton Commissioner, the virus can be controlled by the same insecticide, which is used to check the White Fly (a claim contested by pesticide traders). Farmers were being told to spray the pesticide whenever the attack crossed the economic threshold level (ETL), and meanwhile more pesticides were being imported to meet any future crisis, he said, and added there was no reason to worry so far.

Punjab Agriculture Secretary Fayyaz Bashir says that though the crop has an attack by the Milli Bug, CLVC and an early invasion of the White Fly, but they have not so far been able to threaten it any major way. Highly wet weather, he said, had exposed the crop to these usual and unusual pests.

The government, he said, was keeping a very close watch on the situation. In fact, it had institutionalized this watch through the Cotton Crop Management Group, which met regularly at Multan to review the situation, he added.

However, Farooq Bajwa of the Farmers Associates Pakistan (FAP) thinks otherwise. “One should not lose the context,” he said, and added that the cotton crop was sown late in most of the south Punjab, the core cotton area, due to the non-availability of water. The farmers from this area, he said, also suffered because of late wheat procurement by the Punjab government, thus lacking on time-cash liquidity. The factor, he argued, had been reflected in a decreased use of fertiliser in cotton crop. Late sowing and early arrival of the monsoon season had also exposed the crop to the pest attacks, he added.

Though the acreage target was achieved this year, and cotton was sown over eight million acres, the production target might be hard to achieve if pest condition was not controlled quickly enough, he apprehended. At present, the crop was under threat from all kinds of sucking pests and bollworm - CLCV, Jassid, Thrips, American and Army, he said. In most of the areas they had also crossed economic threshold level (ETL), and the farmers were finding it hard to control the pests, he said. It was true that the cotton areas had not received direct rains, but humidity certainly traveled from other parts of the province to these areas, making the crop vulnerable. It was too early to forecast the exact extent of possible damage, but target of 13.2 million bales might be hard to realise, he feared.

Ibrahim Mughal of the AgriForum says that abnormal drop in the fertiliser usage speaks for itself.

Quoting the official figures, he said the use of phosphorus fertiliser had dropped by 31.2 per cent this Kahrif in the month of June, when cotton was sown. It dropped from 83,200 tons in June 2005, to 57,200 tons this June. The phosphatic fertilizer, he said, was necessary for plant health, better yield and resistance against diseases, and added: “One can imagine, what it means for the crop if farmers are unable to apply it in proper quantity.”

Similarly, he said, Potash fertiliser use dropped by a staggering over 80 per cent in the month of June this year — from 6,500 tons to 1,200 tons. This reduction would cost dearly in the end, he maintained.