RCB’s Pest Control For Cotton Farmers

The Rotary Club of Bombay has installed pheromone traps to help the cotton farmers of the Chopda area, district Jalgaon, control the attack of the Pink Boll Worm. The pests not only affect the farmers’ yield and profit but also the quality of produce.

A pheromone trap is an environment-friendly, natural method of pest control. Lures containing sex pheromones are placed into insect traps and erected in the field at a recommended spacing. Pheromones attract the pests and trap them.

Chopda is surrounded by around a hundred villages, of which a few are in tribal areas. The farmers and under- privileged people of these villages are dependent on cotton farming, as cotton is the major crop in this area.

The Pink Boll Worm (PBW) has caused more than 50 per cent economic loss to the yield of cotton crop in season 2020-’21. One of the areas that has suffered heavy damage due to this pest was Chopda (district Jalgaon), a remote place on the boundaries of Gujarat and M.P.