LARKANA, Oct 15: With the harvest season drawing near, at least 15 per cent of standing rice crop in Larkana, Shikarpur and some areas of the Balochistan province has already been destroyed, mostly due to the plant hopper attack.

According to a rough estimate, one million acres of rice crop has been damaged by the hopper throughout Sindh out of the total 582,000 hectares expected in the province against 488,000 hectares in the previous year.

Recent rains and late sowing have been cited as major factors behind the calamity which has drastically affected small growers who hold agriculture authorities responsible for not guiding them properly in this regard.

They also complained of no seed selection or helpline from the government side, no subsidy on tractors and disparity in markup rates by the Agricultural bank between Sindh and Punjab growers.

Sources said the hopper also attacked in 1994 and 2000, yet the authorities did nothing to advise growers in case of future attacks, adding that the attack was identified almost a month back yet nothing was done.

They said the most hit variety was that of the fine type such as Basmati, while coarse rice like IRRI-6 was also damaged by the attack.

Meanwhile, following complains of the pest attack, Rice Commissioner Innayatullah visited Larkana and held meetings with prominent growers and representatives of the Sindh-Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association.

The commissioner informed journalists that the exact value of the loss was yet to be ascertained, but according to an estimate, about 15 per cent of the crop had been damaged in Sindh.

He said that after collection of exact data, measures would be taken to prevent the situation next year, however, nothing could be done now that the damage had already been done.

He said that as far as proper selection of seed and guidelines to growers was concerned, it was the duty of the provincial government and related departments were there to deal with such matters.

The commissioner said it had also been suggested that the ban on nursery of rice before May 15 be implemented to avoid losses.

ADVOCATES: The Democratic Lawyers Forum met here on Wednesday with Ammanullah Shaikh in chair and criticized the Islamabad police for baton-charging a peaceful procession of lawyers.