BATHINDA, June 2 -- A cutting edge technological intervention offering real time surveillance on the pink bollworm (PBW) in the cotton crop may give a new lease of life to the conventional cash crop of Punjab.

Developed by the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), AI (artificial intelligence) pheromone traps will be stationed at eight different locations in the cotton growing districts of Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar for the second consecutive kharif season to audit its efficacy.

Principal entomologist of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) Vijay Kumar said the digital intervention gives hourly crop updates of the pest via a mobile phone.

Alerted by the moth data, farmers can promptly use insecticides to curb the PBW attack on th...