LAHORE, Aug 16: Farmers from the Punjab feared on Monday that high percentage of humidity caused by the current spell of rain and high temperature in between might help pest grow faster and damage the crop.

It, however, would benefit rice crop that required a large amount of water at this stage. "The current rain spell mostly concentrates on northern and central Punjab, but few areas like Bahawalpur have received unprecedented rains," said a cotton farmer from southern Punjab. But if the current spell turned to cotton belt, it would do more damage than any good, he said.

The agriculture department, which was supposed to keep an eye on the inventory situation, must be vigilant, another farmer said. He said last year rains played havoc with the crop because they repeatedly washed away spray and led to severe shortage of pesticides.

The cotton crop was already under pest attack and spotted bollworm had crossed injury level in some of the areas. Pink bollworm was also active, though it was still under the economic threshold and both these diseases posed a serious threat to the crop, he said.

A farmer from the central Punjab claimed that the government's claims about healthy inventory and vigilance were to be tested. "Farmers lost a substantial part of crop last year because of inefficiency of the department. If the situation is not kept under control, farmers may end up in grief this year also," he feared.

The rain spell in the central Punjab would benefit the rice, said a farmer, who added that rice was easy to fetch and might not require as much government's attention as cotton did.