‘Project Jagruthi’. Cotton farmers train to save crop from pink bollworm  

Ravindra Reddy, a cotton farmer in Damera village of Hanamkonda district in Telangana, is delighted with the yield of nine quintals of cotton per acre. Last year, the yield was limited to about six quintals per acre owing to pink bollworm, one of the most destructive pests for cotton cultivation.   

Reddy says not many farmers were unaware of the pink bollworm or its management last year. This year, intervention from Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), the Rotterdam (Netherlands)-headquartered French agricultural and food processing company, has helped farmers control the damage. 

LDC launched ‘Project Jagruthi’ for cotton growers in India following the pink bollworm outbreak in 2021. 

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It conducted workshops across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, training over 7,500 farmers in over 30 villages on scientific and technical pest control methods. The company also equipped them with over 40,000 pheromone traps for pink bollworm management. It provided eight traps per acre.

“Per acre yield has grown because of the awareness and pheromone traps,” said Reddy. Another farmer, Rajeshwara Rao, agrees, saying the pheromone traps in his two acres helped save 95 per cent of his crop from pink bollworms.

Pheromone traps provided by Louis Dreyfus Company for cotton fields | Photo Credit: Radheshyam Jadhav

Mergu Rajkumarayya, who has cultivated cotton for almost 20 years now, says the cost of cultivation is multiplying with soaring expenses for pesticides and fertilisers; the pink bollworms added to the problems.  

Cotton production, trade 

“LDC conducted a series of educational workshops to support cotton farmers in mitigating threats such as pink bollworm and white fly infestations and reduce the cost of cultivation through better farming practices. Specific methods were demonstrated alongside technical advice from experts to minimise yield losses due to pest outbreaks, thereby increasing production and incomes,” says Gangadhara S, LDC’s Head of Cotton Research. 

Sumeet Mittal, LDC’s Cotton Platform Head in India, said, “Farmers have responded enthusiastically to the project. We are going to scale up the project and reach more farmers.“ He added that cotton is the pivot of agribusiness in many states and any damage to the crop causes heavy losses to farmers. 

Yogeshwar, a farmer,concurs. “Pink bollworm attack destroys almost three portions of the flower and affects the quality and quantity [of yield]. Farmers earlier incurred huge losses. Timely awareness and intervention are key. LDC played a crucial role to save yield in our village,” he said.    

Role of the private sector 

In July this year, at an interactive meeting with stakeholders of the cotton textile value chain, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Textiles, and Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal stressed on the role of private players in improving cotton productivity and the branding of Indian cotton. 

Cotton affected by pink bollworm (left) | Photo Credit: Radheshyam Jadhav

He said the private sector must contribute to boosting research on productivity as also farmers’ education and branding, with matching support from the government. Calling for an integrated approach, Goyal said the private sector must act in mission mode to strengthen the cotton value chain.

(The writer was in Damera, Telangana, on the invitaiton of Louis Dreyfus Company)

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