Locusts may attack cotton, mango crops in south Punjab

MULTAN: Locusts may attack cotton and mango crops in the south Punjab region as the insect has already attacked the crops in some districts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces, The News has learnt.

The fate of south Punjab crops, particularly cotton and mango, depends on the Sindh government strategy against locusts attack, an agriculture official says. Swarms of locusts have spread to six districts of Sindh after initially attacking the crops in Khairpur district, sparking fears of devastation of cotton crop and mango orchards on a large scale.

The agriculture scientists are of the view that monsoon season is round the corner in which locusts multiplies faster. Rahimyar Khan district is closely located with Sindh border, they say. However, some officials in the Punjab Agriculture Directorate blames the Balochistan Agriculture Department for negligence in failing to adopt timely strategy against locusts when the province received heavy rains, providing favourable environment to locusts swarming. The insect has entered Balochistan from Gulf countries and then onward to Sindh.

Officials in the Punjab Agriculture Information Department are of the view that there is no immediate threat of locusts swarming in south Punjab districts, bordering Sindh and Balochistan provinces and the current prospectus of cash crop are satisfactory. The monitoring of locusts movement is under way with preventive strategy, the agriculture officials say.

Punjab Agriculture Department spokesman Naveed Asmat Khaloon says that the Punjab government has issued strict guidelines for monitoring of locust swarming. Rahimyar Khan and Rajanpur districts are currently safe as the locust swarming is 60km away from both the districts, he adds.

He says that after receiving reports of attack of locusts in some areas of Balochistan and Sindh, the Punjab government has kept all departments on high alert to deal with the threat and adopt all possible precautionary measures to save the crops.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority and Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan divisional administrations are in close contact with each other, he adds. The Punjab government is coordinating with the Ministry of Food Security and Research, Federal Plant Protection Department and other relevant ministries, he further adds. The Punjab government has also purchased pesticides to combat the possible attack of locusts.