This has been followed by infestation of pink bollworm, which even in the normal course occurs during the October-November period. However, farmers say the incidence is higher than other years leading to losses in output.

Farmers complained they have already suffered major losses in soyabean, the second major crop of the region, as excess rains have hit the output.

Officials of the agriculture department admitted to TOI a crisis is brewing due to boll rotting. They said the losses have crossed economic threshold limit (ETL) in a number of pockets. ETL is the benchmark for losses. If the occurrence crosses ETL, it means the damage is enough to dent the farmers’ income. In some pockets, as much as 30% to 40% of bolls have rotted, said the officials.

Manish Jadhav, a cotton grower from Mahgaon taluka of Yavatmal district, shared pictures of damaged crop.

Farmers have begun demanding compensation for losses due to pests and rotting bolls, he said. Jadhav claimed that almost 90% of his cotton crop has been damaged. “The farmers of the area could not reap beyond the first round of picking in September. After that bouts of rainfall led to cotton bolls rotting, leading to a pest attack too,” he said.

Amol Bagate, a cotton grower from the same taluka, said farmers have begun plucking out the plants to prevent further losses as there is hardly any crop left.

“Rotting bolls is a major problem this year. Farmers have reported white pests on the decayed bolls and cotton plants,” said Kishore Tiwari, chairman of Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavalamban Mission (VNSSM).

“The white pests are of the saprophytic category that survive on dead plants. These are like scavengers. The problem has been reported in entire cotton growing belt of Vidarbha,” said an agriculture department officer requesting anonymity. This was also confirmed by a team from Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), the source said.

The rains prevented spraying of pesticides on the cotton crop, which led to higher incidence of bollworm, added another officer of the department.

Sharadrao Patil from Mahgaon says only negligible output is expected from his five acres of holding under cotton cultivation. “Both rotting and bollworm attack have led to equal losses,” he said.

Meanwhile, rates of cotton have slightly improved for the better grade touching Rs5,200 a quintal. This is being attributed to the shortage due to losses. As against this, the minimum support price (MSP) is at Rs5,800 a quintal.

Veteran farm activist Vijay Jawandhia said, “The average rate is still in the range of Rs4,800 to 5,100. MSP procurement has begun in some of the centres.”

Jawandhia said if farmers get MSP it would only help them cover the losses in soyabean.