Reduction in cotton production feared due to heavy rains in South Punjab

MULTAN: Heavy and unabated spells of monsoon rains have hit the cotton crop, fearing reduction in its production in south Punjab.

According to the cotton experts and scientists, the Sindh province has already lost a large size of the crop due to heavy rains. However, if the current monsoon rains spell loses its intensity then it will be beneficial for the crop, they added. Heavy monsoon rains have inundated cotton fields in some parts of Multan, Vehari, Lodhran and Khanewal districts where the farmers are unable to adopt rainwater management measures due to the lack of expertise. The growers have urged the government to take steps to remove water from their fields and save their standing crop.

The cotton growers said that the government has failed to provide rainwater management training to them. The rainwater stay in the cotton fields is dangerous to the standing crop, but the growers have not been imparted training of rainwater management, they added.

The growers said that overall cotton area went down in the past years, particularly from 2004 to 2014. The cotton sowing area was 6.2 million acres during 2004/05, which was reduced to 5.7 million acres in 2014/15, they added.

The growers said that creation of awareness and capacity building among farmers to adopt appropriate measures for removal of rainwater from the cotton fields can minimise the crop damage.

Talking to The News, Punjab Cotton Research Station Director Dr Saghir Ahmed is of the view that only mitigation measures are required during the monsoon for rainwater management in cotton fields to remove excess water from the cotton fields for getting maximum yield. It has been experienced that the climate change has altered the rainfall pattern, he added.

The proposed interventions include construction of water storage structures/ponds, he added. He said that extremely heavy rains could be destructive, but this is not the case as per the rainfall forecasts.

The agriculture officials said that there are different techniques used for removal and drainage of excess water from the cotton fields, including the management and technical interventions. The management intervention to protect cotton from heavy rains, include plantation of cotton on top of ridges or beds in bed-furrow irrigation system so that heavy rains may not affect the crop as the furrows act as drainage, rainwater accumulation channels whenever heavy rains are received and help to drain away excess water.

The Met office has predicted mostly cloudy weather with strong thunderstorms in the current week in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur divisions. The Met office has also predicted above average rains in the current monsoon.