Barnala, August 17, 2017: Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori today assured the cotton farmers of the Barnala district to not panic as the situation is already under control. He said that he is supervising a team of experts that is keeping a close watch on the white fly on daily basis and till date, there have been no reports of white fly attack in Barnala district.
Mr Thori said this while interacting with the cotton farmers at village Khuddi Kalan today. On this occasion, he also interacted with the farmers and also took first hand account of the whole situation.
Deputy Commissioner Mr Ghanshyam Thori stated that in Barnala district, only 5460 hectares of land has cotton crop, whereas Bathinda has 1.40 lakh hectares, Mansa has around 83,000 hectares, Fazilka 74700 hectares, Sri Muktsar Sahib 64600 hectares, Sangrur has 9200 hectares , Faridkot has 1600 hectares and Moga has 200 hectares under cotton crop.
He further stated that out of 5460 hectares in Barnala district, 268 hectares got damaged due to rainfall and at present, total area under cotton crop is 5192 hectares.
The Deputy Commissioner stated that the officials from State Agriculture Department are organising camps in different villages on daily basis and urged them to use only those sprays that have been approved by the Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana. He said that technical advice is also being provided to the farmers so that they can keep their cotton crop safe from a white fly attack.
He further said that to educate the farmers about white fly and other such diseases, a van with an audio system fitted on it has been started in the district that is visiting different villages and imparting information regarding ways with which cotton crop can be kept safe. He said that literature regarding the same is also being distributed to the farmers free of cost.
Prominent among those present on the occasion included Assistant Commissioner (Under Trainee) Miss Shayari Malhotra, Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Pakhar Singh, Dr Sukhpal Singh, Dr Gurmit Singh, Dr Sarbjit Singh, farmers Simarjit Singh, Lakhwinder, Makhan Lal, Soni Khan, besides several others.