MULTAN, Aug 31: The government is considering a ban on cotton sowing in areas which have come under the attack of cotton leaf curl virus this year.

This was stated by provincial agriculture minister Syed Khursheed Zaman Qureshi while addressing a press conference here on Saturday after the weekly meeting of the cotton crop management group here.

He said Burewala, Vehari, Sahiwal and some other areas had been affected by the CLCV, where its infestation was above the economic injury level. Besides banning sowing of the crop, the government was also reviewing other options to check the CLCV menace like introducing virus-resistant varieties.

He said the government would allow sowing of only six varieties next year with the preference order — CIM-473 (1), CIM-443 (2), CIM-482 (3), CIM-446 (4), FH-900 (5) and FH-901 (6). “Currently some 16 varieties (of cotton) are being sown in the country but the government has decided to limit their number,” he added.

The minister asked the cotton growers to remain vigilant against the pest attack during the month of September. He suggested spray of pesticides once in a week to combat the menace of American, spotted and pink bollworms. It may be added here that last week, on Aug 24, the minister had recommended twice-a-week spray for the same purpose.

He admitted that the severity of the pests’ attack in Rahim Yar Khan district had been increasing year after year though it had not yet raised the alarm bells. He said a two-member committee comprising Dr Ghulam Mustafa and Dr Zafar Qurehsi of the Ayub Agriculture Research Institute had been constituted to find reasons of the pest proliferation in the prime district (Rahim Yar Khan) of cotton zone and to recommend measures to control the situation.

He said the Punjab had suggested certain changes to the federal government viz-a-viz forms 16 and 17 of the import of pesticides in order to make their (pesticides) testing in Pakistan compulsory. He disclosed that volume of the pesticides business in the country was worth Rs13 billion per annum. There were 230 pesticides firms working in the country. Of them, 80 per cent were doing business in the Punjab.

He expressed satisfaction over the water level at Tarbela and Mangla and said there was no dearth of irrigation water in the province. He said the shortage of water in Rahim Yar Khan and Rajanpur districts owed to some technical issues which were being addressed.

It is interesting to note that the minister has placed CIM-473 atop in his order of preference for being CLCV-resistant but, according to a report of the directorate of pest warning and quality control of pesticides, the variety was under CLCV attack in most of the cotton belt, including Multan, Khanewal, Vehari, Pakpattan. Other preferred cotton varieties like CIM-446, FH-900 and FH-901 are facing the same problem.