LAHORE: Notwithstanding government claims that ‘timely action’ has prevented locust from causing any ‘significant’ damage to crops anywhere in Punjab, farmers continue to complain that they are having sleepless nights as state agencies are paying little heed to the issue.

Using his official account, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar tweeted on Monday that the federal government has been requested to provide three aircraft for aerial spray of insecticides on the area under the locust attack.

Acknowledging that next couple of months are crucial to fight the malaise, he says attempts are in the offing to curtail reproduction of locust and so far a sum of Rs1 billion has been released to fund the campaign.

Provincial Agriculture Minister Malik Nauman Ahmed Langrial told a departmental meeting earlier in the day that in collaboration with the Federal Department of Plant Protection, arrangements have been made for aerial spray to control the spring breed of locusts.

He said due to timely action of the agriculture department, no significant damage had so far been done to the crops in Punjab due to the locust attack.

So far, surveillance of a total area of 3.7 million hectares has been completed and more than 44,000 litres of pesticides have been applied on 133,000 hectares.

He said a joint control operation with the help of Pakistan Army, Punjab Agriculture Department, PDMA and the district administration was going on as the government had procured spray machinery and pesticides on an emergency basis.

More than 3,000 workers of the department are participating in the campaign and activities of all concerned departments would continue till complete elimination of locusts, he added.

Agriculture Secretary Wasif Khurshid told the meeting that more than 200 spray machines were spraying on the trees in the affected area.

He said locusts were currently migrating towards Cholistan and special teams were monitoring its movement in Pir Mahal, Mian Channu, Burewala and Khairpur Tamiwali.

Farmers, however, challenge the minister’s claims of insignificant damage to crops.

“The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UNO says the locust had caused a damage of at least Rs100 billion to the agriculture sector in the last winter season,” says Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee General Secretary Farooq Tariq.

Quoting FAO figures, he said the locust-related losses may go up to Rs817bn in 2020 and over Rs357bn in the next winter crop alone.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2020