As it was noted at the meeting devoted to issues of accelerating the development of cotton plant, the number of insects and pests has increased this year due to adverse environmental conditions. Scientists have found that the survival rate of bollworms after wintering is 76 percent, which is the highest in recent years. While, 50 percent survival rate of bollworms is regarded as an emergency. And this year, the insects has increased by 1.5 times. In this regard, it is required that every responsible manager take this issue under control, especially it is necessary to strengthen personal responsibility of farmers.
Scientists of the industry forecasted that this year the spider mite will spread on 460 thousand hectares, bollworms – on 390 thousand hectares, Lucerne bug – on 42 thousand hectares. Therefore, 127 scientists led by the heads of research institutes of the Academy of Sciences and Tashkent State Agrarian University were sent to the regions. An additional 100 billion sums have been allocated from the budget to protect cotton from pests. However, some sector leaders are still indifferent. Reporting on the chemical treatment of thousands of hectares, they have not achieved real results. This shows that the processing was carried out poorly and for formal reporting. As a result, in some regions, bollworms damaged cotton on 4-5 thousand hectares, another 8-10 thousand hectares of land are at risk.
The development of cotton is also negatively affected by wrong organization of irrigation activities. Sector leaders and agricultural workers are not paying enough attention to equitable water distribution. For example, 50-60 percent of water allocated to some districts is used for irrigation of re-cropping areas and farmland. Due to misuse and lack of water, lack of night irrigation, cotton on 10-15 percent of the fields in some districts is thirsty. Despite the specific order to irrigate cotton by “sherbet” method, 60-65 percent of areas in some districts are irrigated completely. In this regard, the Ministry of Water Resources and the State Veterinary Committee were instructed to involve their employees in introduction activities of local fertilizers and irrigation of cotton by “sherbet” method, assign them to farms. Appropriate measures will be taken against sector leaders and farmers who use water inefficiently.
