Lehri was referring to the devastating attack by whitefly, a common
pest, on the cotton crop in Punjab's Malwa region this year. It has
affected about two-thirds of standing cotton crop in the state, causing
an estimated loss of Rs 4,200 crore.
READ ALSO: Black clouds over BT cotton as whitefly runs amok
There are reports of at least 15 cotton farmers committing suicide. The
director of Punjab's agriculture department is under arrest as are
several pesticide dealers for selling spurious pesticides. The farmers
are on the roads blocking traffic and demanding compensation while the
state's Akali Dal-led NDA government has announced a compensation
package of Rs 640 crore, dismissed by angry farmers as peanuts.
Punjab has nearly 12 lakh acres under cotton this year and almost all
of it is Bt cotton, which is resistant to some major pests such as
bollworm. But over the years, whiteflies have regularly attacked cotton
plants only to be controlled by intensive spraying of chemical
pesticides. But this year, despite a new pesticide being introduced and
subsidized by the state government, the whitefly attack spun out of
control. The reasons for this virulence are yet unclear but the farmers
have a story to tell.
