By Amrit Pal Sidhu
Sri Muktsar Sahib, March 16:
Davy Goyal, IAS, Additional Deputy Commissioner (G) today held an important meeting with about 20 heads of various departments regarding weeding for preventive prevention of whitefly; mealy bug and leaf curl virus attack on cotton crop and issued guidelines in this regard. Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) Surinder Singh Dhillon was also present on this occasion.
During the meeting, Jagsir Singh, Chief Agriculture Officer gave detailed information about the identification, life cycle and damage of whitefly that damages cotton crop. He said that a target has been set to sow cotton on 14000 ha area in the district during Kharif 2026.
On this occasion, Charanjit Singh, Deputy Director of Agriculture (Cotton), Shri Muktsar Sahib said that before the sowing of cotton, the whitefly keeps breeding on the weeds growing in the fields, ditches, fields, vacant spaces, roadsides, vacant land/plots, canals, ditches and drains and other crops.
After the sowing of cotton, this whitefly, which is breeding on the weeds, attacks the cotton crop. So, to break the circle of the whitefly, it is very important that the weeds that shelter the whitefly such as yellow weed, puth kand, dhatura, dodhak, milk weed, bathu, kangi weed, chalai, guwara phali, bhambolan, tadalan, gulabi, hulhul, makadoo vine, carrot grass and bhang are destroyed before the sowing of cotton.
By doing this, the cycle of whitefly will be broken and the attack on cotton crop will be reduced.
The Additional Deputy Commissioner (G) instructed the heads of various departments to get the weeds destroyed within their respective areas as soon as possible and send a weekly progress report in this regard to the Agriculture Department.
He said that in this way they will be able to make their valuable contribution in increasing cotton production.