Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Source: Business Line
Context: Cotton farmers in North India are considering shifting to crops like paddy, maize, and guar for the upcoming 2024-25 kharif season due to various challenges.
- These challenges include weak prices for cotton, severe infestation of pink bollworm (PBW) during the previous season, and increasing labour costs.
- In Punjab, the cotton area for the 2023-24 kharif season decreased by 32% compared to the previous year.
About Pink Bollworm:
The pink bollworm (PBW), or Pectinophora gossypiella, is a moth that is a major pest to cotton in many regions of the world.
It is known as “Pinky” because the larvae develop pink bands as they mature.
The larvae are small white caterpillars with eight pairs of legs and pink bands along their backs.
The PBW lays eggs on cotton bolls, which hatch into larvae that burrow into the bolls and squares, destroying the seeds and staining the lint. The larvae take on pinkish bands as they mature.
