RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Experts of the provincial agriculture department have advised the cotton growers to carry out pest scouting of their crop twice a week especially in the wake of ongoing rains as better take-care and protection from rain water may lead to better yield per acre.

They said that Pakistan stands forth in countries producing cotton while Punjab produces 75 percent of the total national cotton production.

Stressing need for saving the crop from pests, experts advised the growers that if they found attack of pests on cotton higher than the prescribed threshold then they should spray pesticides in consultation with the experts of the department deputed in their area. They especially urged the growers to keep an eye on white fly, thrips, pink bollworm, mealy bug and army worm’s population. They should also be vigilant to weather forecast and do not let rain water stand in their fields. Irrigation should only be done in need, they added.

While in another advisory the experts also called for using high quality machinery for pest spray as they said that using substandard machinery result in loss of 50 percent of the sprayed pesticides.