Affected area being sprayed

SUKKUR: Fumigation vehicles are working in the Khangarh area of Ghotki district to control a swarm of locusts, which has now spread over an area of 18 square kilometres.

EDO Agriculture Ghotki Riaz Dayo said that the district administration, in collaboration with the agriculture department and the plant protection department, has taken measures to control the infestation. However, they are still waiting for aircraft to spray the affected area as aerial spray is more effective. Dayo feared that since the locusts are multiplying fast, they can cause more destruction.

Fortunately, their movement is limited to the Senewari area of Khangarh desert, where there is no population or crops. DCO Ghotki Abdul Aziz Uqaili told The Express Tribune that he has been in touch with the plant protection department’s director-general, who assured him that the aircraft will arrive on Friday night.

The plane is supposed to land at the air strip of Qadirpur gas field but since there are no facilities for night landing there, it might land at Sukkur airport and start its operation from there.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2010.