Locusts damage crops, mango orchards in Punjab cities

KABIRWALA: Swarms of locusts on Saturday morning attacked Khanewal, Kabirwala and Mian Channu and damaged mango orchards and vegetable crops.

“The swarms have entered Kabirwala from Balochistan via Multan district," said Assistant Commissioner Ghulam Mustafa while speaking to The News.

He said that locusts in millions landed in the area and started devouring crops in Kabirwala, Khanewal, Mian Channu and other areas. Kissan Ittehad district president Mian Yaqoob said that swarms attacked green pastures, trees and crops at Kot Islam. After causing enormous damage to the fields there, they advanced to farmlands in Kabirwala and its surrounding areas.

He said that the agriculturists and farmers in the affected areas were struggling hard to combat the locust invasion by sprinkling pesticides on their crops.

A fight against the locust swarms could only be effective through aerial spray, he added. He urged the Punjab government to arrange light aircraft and pesticides to bring the situation under control and avoid heavy losses to the farmers.

The locusts had ample breeding time and place at Kot Islam area along Ravi embankments. As soon as the pests would attain flying age, they would start attacking crops available to them all around, said Mehr Rasheed, a prominent agriculturist. The farming community in affected areas was applying traditional methods to push away the swarms, but their efforts appeared to be an exercise in futility, considering the strength of the swarms. “The Crop Protection Department and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had allegedly failed to take any action in this regard”, said Mehr Khizar Hayat Hiraj, Farmers Association tehsil president. Mango Growers Association Multan president Zahid Gardezi said that the mango orchards in Multan and Kabirwala would be destroyed in no time, therefore, the CM should initiate an action to handle the alarming situation and make sure that everything be controlled before destruction of mangoes. He said that an average swarm, which had up to 40 million insects, could travel up to 150km in a day to destroy crops that otherwise could feed 34m people. He demanded the government declare emergency in the district to control the spread of locusts. Khanewal Deputy Commissioner Agha Zaheer Abbas Sherazi directed the Agriculture Department to conduct spray in the affected areas after swarms of locusts attacked standing crops and fruit orchards in parts of the district. He along with Punjab Secretary Archive and Libraries Tahir Yousuf visited the affected areas. He said that the government had taken steps to counter threats of locusts and all available resources were being utilised in this regard.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Deputy Director Rana Maqsood confirmed the attack of massive locust swarms on the thickly-populated areas of Khanewal district. He said that the department would consider conducting aerial and ground spray to control the situation.

Assistant Director Agriculture Manzoor Ahmad advised the people to beat drums and burn bushes. He said that swarms were under resting stage due to the light rain in the morning.

As the wind was blowing in such weather, the best treatment was drum beating, he added. The farmers demanded the provincial government constitute a survey team to compensate their losses.

JHANG: After damaging crops in the areas of Athara Hazari tehsil, locust swarms started attacking crops in the areas of Shorkot and Ahmedpur Sial tehsils on Saturday. Farmers and growers were worried about the situation as the district administration had not taken steps to prevent the locust attack. They have demanded the government announce compensation for them so that they could cultivate their field for the next crops.

Meanwhile, DC Tahir Wattoo, in a press statement, stated that the district administration officials along with agriculture experts were present in the affected areas and busy controlling the situation by using chemical spray and machinery.

TOBA TEK SINGH: Farmers and Agriculture Department anti-locusts teams continued spraying the whole night in dozens of villages around Pirmahal and Shorkot Cantonment and killed all locusts staying on crops or

trees. Agriculture Deputy Director Nisar Ahmad Mahmood claimed that heavy swarm spread on several kilometres had left Pirmahal tehsil at 6pm on Friday and entered Mian Channu (Khanewal district) while remaining locusts were killed. However, some small swarms again attacked Pirmahal’s villages on Saturday and with the joint efforts of farmers and his department staff they were forced to leave the area. He added that at least one dozen villages of Gojra tehsil also faced attack, but locusts failed to make heavy loss to maize, cotton, sugarcane and other crops.

BAHAWALPUR: Swarms of locusts attacked crops in different areas of Bahawalpur district. The severe attack of the locusts happened in Uch Sharif, Chanab Rasoolpur, Nanday Lal, Noorpur Nauranga, Khanqah Sharif, Musaffer Khana and Chak13/BC and 12/BC. Fields of newly sown cotton, vegetables, trees and greenery of all kinds came under the attack of locusts. The growers appealed to the Punjab government to order spray against the locusts.