MUZAFFARGARH: A swarm of locusts attacked sugarcane and cotton crops as well as animal fodder in the district.
The insects attacked the crops on Friday and Saturday in Shah Jamal, Muhammad Mosa and Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu tehsils, inflicting major damage on sugarcane and cotton crops and animal fodder.
Farmers claimed they were already suffering due to coronavirus and their wheat crop yield had also been affected due to excessive rains and hailstorm. They said they contacted the agriculture officials to inform them about the locust attack but the administration told them to beat drums to get rid of the insects.
On Saturday, several farmers had drummers beat drums in sugarcane fields of Pir Muhammad Mosa areas from where locusts were seen flying away, much to the relief of locals.
But Ashiq, a farmer, lamented that farmers who had been adversely affected had not been given any relief in the coronavirus package, while small farmers also failed to get any relief from the prime minister.
BAHAWALPUR: A massive locust swarm on Saturday attacked thousands of acres of cultivated land in the riverine areas around Uch Sharif near Panjnad Headworks as well as Channigoth, about 70 kilometres from here in Ahmedpur East tehsil.
The first locust attack of this year’s summer caused extensive damage to the standing crops of maize, fodder and mango orchards scattered across hundreds of acres in villagesnear the Chenab touching the boundaries of Uch Sharif, Khairpur Daha, Dhoorekote and Mubarakpur.
The farming community here was apprehending the locust invasion as there were reports of its hatching, breeding and movement in other parts of the province such as Sahiwal and Layyah.
Agriculture (Extension) Director Khalid Sindhu told Dawn that since the reports of the impending attack came in on Thursday, field staff in vehicles fitted with pesticides and spray machines swung into action. Farmers and some non-governmental organisations had also been contacted and people in the affected areas along with the field staff prepared to beat drums.
TOBA TEK SINGH: Farmers and anti-locust teams of agriculture department continued spraying throughout Friday night in dozens of villages around Pirmahal and Shorkot Cantonment and claimed to have killed all locusts on crops and trees.
Agriculture Deputy Director Nisar Ahmad Mahmood claimed that massive swarms spread over several kilometres had left Pirmahal tehsil by 6pm on Friday and entered Mian Channu in Khanewal district. The remaining locusts were killed, however some smaller swarms returned to attack the same villages of Pirmahal on Saturday, but with the joint efforts of farmers and the department staff, they were driven away.
Mahmood added that at least a dozen villages of Gojra tehsil’s Nawan Lahore area and some other areas were also attacked, but no heavy losses were caused to maize, cotton, sugarcaneand other crops, vegetables and orchards.
LODHRAN: A massive swarm of locusts continued to attack crops in Khanewal since Friday, aggravating concerns of farmers.
Khanewal Deputy Commissioner Agha Zaheer Abbas Sherazi supervised the operation by relevant departments to eliminate the locusts.
The local administration spokesman told Dawn that the spray operation had started on Friday evening and was going on in the infected areas throughout Saturday. It will continue till all locusts were eliminated in Khanewal. The DC had directed teams to ascertain the agricultural losses caused by the locust attack in the area.
Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2020
