LAHORE, Oct 9: Apropos of the news item published in Dawn on Oct 8, regarding shortage of cotton pesticides, a spokesman of the Punjab Agriculture department clarified that during the early stages of the crop, only insect growth regulator (spinosad) was recommended for control of the spotted bollworm, and soft pesticides, i.e., Abamectin, Emmarection benzoate and Indoxacarb in addition to the IGR were recommended to control American bollworm. The use of Pyrethroids was not recommended being a broad spectrum group of pesticides to save maximum population of predators and parasites.

The agriculture department never recommended the use of pesticides before economic threshold level of pests was reached. The recommendations of the department are solely based on technical grounds and not in favour of any particular pesticides importer or company. Moreover, the department always uses generic names so that a level playing field is available to all pesticide companies.

As regards shortage of pesticides, this was due to the following reasons:

1. During the month of August, the total rainfall at 57 meteorological stations in the cotton area was 3,406 mm as against only 250 mm during the corresponding period of last year. This huge rainfall necessitated repeated sprays because after every rainfall, farmers had to spray again. This resulted in increased use of pesticides.

2. In areas where there were heavy rains, farmers could not enter the fields for many days. This provided an opportunity to the pest to multiply quickly and pass through the stages where it could have been controlled. This caused increased population of the pest during next generation which again necessitated more use of pesticides.

Our Multan Correspondent adds: Of the four recommended pesticides, Spinosad, according to experts, is not an insect growth regulator (IGR), because it does not kill the insect through inhibiting growth, which is the main characteristic of an IGR.

When the department launched the ‘awareness campaign’, the problem in the cotton fields was spotted bollworm, for which pyrethroids are extremely affective and were available in market in abundance. Moreover, the department did not provide any local data to prove that the select number of pesticides were not harmful to the friendly insects. Similarly, the four products extensively recommended by the agriculture department belonged to only three companies.

About rain effects, independent entomologists say that it washes away eggs, larva and pupae of all pests, and in the way it proves helpful to reduce their proliferation.

As far as pesticides imports in wake of a meeting on Sept 9, almost 90 per cent of pesticides imported in ‘emergency’ have come through sea route. As a matter of fact, pesticides coming from sea route take at least four weeks to arrive at the Karachi port after the opening of L/C. Therefore, it was the demand assessment of the companies that compelled them to import more pesticides well before the meeting.

The department did answer a point raised in the Oct 8 story that importers whose products were recommended imported unprecedent high quantity well before the start of cotton sowing this year while they had carryover stocks from their last year imports.