MITHI: Massive swarms of locusts appeared once again in the skies of Tharparkar, Badin and Mirpurkhas districts and invaded cultivated fields, trees and vegetation, eating away green leaves, bark and grass.

The insects attacked vast areas in Mithi, Dilpo and Kaloi talukas as farmers watched helplessly the trees and standing crops being denuded of green leaves and bark. They also ate away bushes and grass, which was fodder for animals.

Peoples in Badin district told journalists that the insects in their millions attacked standing crops in Tando Bago, Shadi Large, Pangrio, Khoski, Malkani Sharif and other areas of the district.

Local farmers told this reporter that they posed serious threat to the remaining crops on vast areas in the district and demanded high-ups send teams to carry out an effective anti-locust spray through aircrafts and save them from further devastation.

They said that in the absence of anti-locust spray, they had no other option but to fall back on old, traditional methods to try to scare away the insects. They beat drums and played audio cassettes at high volume in order to fly away the insects but to little avail, they said.

The deadly insects have been attacking and damaging the crops in eastern parts of Sindh for the past six months but no serious and coordinated measures have so far been taken by the provincial or federal governments to exterminate them.

MIRPURKHAS: Huge swarm of locusts resumed attacks on cultivated land and orchards in different parts of the district, causing resentment and trepidation among farmers.

Farmers complained that the insects had once again attacked their crops in different parts of Kot Ghulam Mohammad taluka, Dambalo, Tando Jan Mohammad, Digri, Jhuddo and Sindhri taluka.

They said that the unabating attacks by the insects had put a question mark on the efficiency of the plant protection department, Mirpurkhas region, and agriculture extension department which had utterly failed in eliminating locusts and thwarting their attacks.

The insects had destroyed wheat and other crops in different parts of the district over the past six months and the departments concerned had been doing only lip service, making hollow claims without any visible work on ground. They claimed to have carried out anti-locust spray in affected areas but to no avail, the insects were as free as they were before the pesticide spray to fly unhindered to anywhere they wanted and damage the crops at their whim causing further losses to farmers.

The officers concerned were not available for comment. They had mostly kept their cell phone numbers turned off.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2019