HYDERABAD: Highlighting the wilting of Bt Cotton crop in parts of Nalgonda, the Andhra Pradesh Coalition In Defence of Diversity (APCIDD) has sought a detailed scientific inquiry into the problem and compensation to affected growers.

In a statement, P. V. Satheesh, convener of the APCIDD, said such an inquiry was necessary in the wake of reports from other countries pointing to the toxic effect of the root exudates from the Bt cotton plants on the beneficial soil fauna. The APCIDD warned that any delay in responding to this situation would lead to severe loss to cotton growing farmers.

He said farmers who planted Bt Cotton had started uprooting them, unable to watch the plants dying due to severe wilt. In Mustyalapally village in Bhongir mandal farmers uprooted Bt cotton from 41 acres out of the 51 acres of crop area.

Other villages hit

The disease spread to nearby villages of Cheemala Konduru, Sikendernagar, Cholleru and Moota Kinduru villages of Bhongir and Yadagirigutta mandals.

Farmers complained that the cotton plants were slowly dying because the root system was getting decomposed. Even the bolls formed on these wilted plants did not bear any seed. Hence farmers decided to uproot the crop and make the best use of the remaining part of the agricultural season by sowing coriander.

M. A. Qayum, former Joint Director of Agriculture who visited Mustyalapalli to assess the extent of damage, attributed the disease to soil borne fungus, which severely affected the root system causing the plant to wilt from top to down. Hitherto, cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh had never faced this problem.

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