PAU gears up to fight whitefly menace

LUDHIANA: To check the spread of whitefly in Punjab, Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) called a meeting of the Heads of the Departments and faculty of the University on Tuesday.
In his address, Dr Dhillon urged the scientists to come forward to help the cotton growers in the hour of crisis. Calling for converting the challenge into opportunity, he said that motivation, inspiration, dedication and commitment were essential to curb whitefly menace.He added that timely sowing of cotton, timely surveillance of the crop, heavy rainfall and eradication of weeds were some of the positive factors for controlling whitefly.
While interacting with the faculty, Dr Dhillon impressed upon the scientists of PAU to form groups and visit villages every weekend to solve farmers’ issues regarding whitefly. He also suggested students to visit fields every weekend. In addition, he emphasized on creating awareness about proper use of insecticides and their spraying technology.
During interaction, scientists suggested forming farmers’ groups, and involving old agriculture stalwarts and progressive farmers of Punjab to tackle the problem of whitefly. Besides, they stressed on spreading awareness through social media and religious places.
Earlier, Dr R.S. Sidhu, Director of Extension Education, welcomed PAU VC, deans, directors, heads of the departments and faculty of the University. He said that this meeting aimed at discussing the whitefly issue, and giving and inviting suggestions to control it. He also informed that few days back, a meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary (Punjab), Mr Sarvesh Kaushal to constitute a committee to check whitefly spread. The state government has constituted a committee, which will be headed by PAU Vice-Chancellor, Dr B.S. Dhillon and includes representatives from Haryana and Rajasthan as well, he told.
The Director of Research, Dr R.K. Gumber said that earlier whitefly used to appear after June, but now this insect has started appearing within 10 days of sowing and needs to be managed at every cost.
Expressing concern over Abohar and Fazilka areas, he called for collective efforts to control whitefly and stressed on being more active in terms of conducting surveillance. Sharing that the economy of Malwa belt depends upon the cotton crop, he said the area under this crop has shrunk to 3.39 lakh ha in Punjab.