MULTAN:Secretary Agriculture South Punjab Saqib Ali Ateel on Thursday expressed dis-satisfaction over on-field performance of agriculture officials giving them a week to improve pleading that farmers needed guidance during humid weather conditions amid rising risk of pest attacks on crops.
He made these observations at a meeting he chaired after conducting visits to crop areas in Multan and Lodhran, said an official release.
The Secretary checked cotton fields in Multan and Lodhran and found incidence of pink bollworm, white fly, mealy bug and Thrips in some fields.
He directed Deputy Director Agriculture Extension Sheikh Yousuf Ur Rahman to expedite field visits to improve cotton crop situation. He said that August and September were important due to risks of pest attacks and ordered officials to reach out to farmers and provide guidance on how to counter the threat. This is the time for farmers and the Agriculture Department to reap fruit and agriculture extension and pest warning officials should be present in the field the way farmers do in such times, he said.
He asked the farmers to remain alert, inspect crops on daily basis and do pest scouting twice a week. The farmers must apply botanical extracts’ spray of Colocynth (Kortumma), Sodom Apple (Aak), asafoetida (Hing), Neem and tobacco to keep attack of Thrips, white fly and Jassid under economic threshold level (ETL), he said.
He advised the farmers to uproot plant after covering it with polythene bag in case of mealy bug attack in initial stage. This uprooted plant should be then buried at some suitable location, he said and directed the farmers to apply spray of 70ml Profenophos and 200ml bleach in 20 liters of water to wash the plants thoroughly for chemical solution. In case of initial attack of pink bollworm, the farmers should remove flowers of the shape of homogenizer (Madhani) and destroy them. Four to six pheromone traps be installed per acre, six inch above the crop, and replace the capsules after fifteen days. For more effective results, 3 kilogram tobacco leaf be boiled in 10 liters of water and when half the quantity is left, it should be separated from leaf and the liquid is mixed in 100 liters of water. This liquid is sufficient for spray on an acre.
He said that if found inevitable, pesticide spray be applied only after consulting experts. However, plant extract spray be applied 3-4 days after pesticides.
Additional Secretary Task Force Barakullah Khan, Deputy Secretary Asif Raza and other officials attended the meeting.