Kharif crop threatened by desert nymph attack

Key dept assigned to prevent losses by the pest through insecticide spray currently closed due to pandemic

RAHIM YAR KHAN: With the beginning of the cotton cultivation season millions of young locusts move to the lush plains of Punjab after being raised in the desert areas of Rajanpur and Rojhan.

Millions of nymphs were seen crossing the Indus Highway to enter Shahwali, a border union council of Rahim Yar Khan, since Tuesday.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, all departments have been ordered to remain closed until the end of lockdown in the province. Under such circumstances, locusts may pose an even greater risk to the Kharif crops.

These pests are known to destroy all shrubs and crops that fall in their way. Now that they are swarming towards the green fields of Punjab and Sindh, there is no hope of protection with all government departments lying dormant.



Locally known as Sehrai Tidi, Desert Locusts breed twice a year in the country.

Plant Protection Department Assistant Director Pest Warning and Quality Control Sayed Burhanul Dain said he got the news of nymph attack recently.

He highlighted that the first breeding ground of the pest lies in Balochistan where these insects breed in February and undergo metamorphosis till June after which these migrate to the lush green areas to feed on them.

“The second breeding season starts in June in an area that extends from Badin to Rajanpur and in the 6.6 million acres of Cholistan next to the three districts of the Bahawalupur division. This lifecycle completes in September.”

Dain further added that teams will be sent to the affected areas in 1-2 days to spray insecticide to contain this threat to crops. A few months ago, the federal government had taken steps to prevent the locusts from arriving in Balochistan and Punjab from Iran.

Two pilots of the Federal Department of Plant Protection Unit had lost their lives in a deadly plane crash as it crashed due to a technical fault in January. They had been assigned to spray insecticide over Sadiqabad fields.



The incident deprived the department of its only insecticide spraying aircraft. Official sources revealed that so far no orders have been placed to procure a new jet for the purpose.

The loss of jet meant that locusts could lay their eggs uncontested in the deserts. Now that the warmer months have dawned, nymphs are all set for annihilation. The cultivation of Kharif season’s crops has begun in the plains of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, in which the main crop is cotton.

The Agriculture Department has designated around 5 million acres for cotton cultivation in 2020 of which 4.5 million acres lie in South Punjab’s three divisions: Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2020.