Look at the following text about growing cotton in India. Theparagraphs have not been printed in the correct order. Arrange theparagraphs in the correct order. Remember that the topic of oneparagraph should follow logically from the topic of the lastparagraph and should lead on to the topic of the nextparagraph.
Pesticide suicide
Most of the farmers are extremely poor. Attracted by cheap loansfrom pesticides traders and the prospect of a quick buck, theyborrowed heavily to raise cotton on small plots of land.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the crop losses anddestruction in Andhra Pradesh arose from the repeated applicationof excessive amounts of chemicals - a practice actively encouragedby pesticides traders.
The suicide of Samala Mallaiah in Nagara village grabbed mediaheadlines. He owned one acre of land, leased two more and grewcotton on all three. After making a loss in the first year, heleased yet more land in an attempt to recover. Confronted withfalling prices, mounting debts and pest attacks, he committedharakiri. ‘Cotton has given us shattered dreams,’ said one oldfarmer in Nagara village.
As many as 60,000 small farmers in the region of Andhra Pradesh,southern India, have taken to farming cotton instead of food crops.Some 20 of them have recently committed suicide by eating lethaldoses of pesticide.
Whitefly, boll weevils and caterpillars multiplied and destroyedtheir crops, despite the constant application of pesticides. Theaverage yield of cotton fields in Andhra Pradesh fell by more thanhalf in just one year. Now the farmers are in no position to repaythe loans or feed their families.
Nearly half the pesticides used in India go into protectingcotton, the most important commercial crop in the country. However,pests have shown increased immunity to a range of pesticides. Lastyear there were heavy crop losses due to leaf-curl, which is causedby the dreaded whitefly. This nondescript, milky-white fly suckssap from the cotton leaves, making them curl and dry up. The flystruck first in Pakistan and north-western India. Then it turnedsouth.
