Agriculture Department Punjab in collaboration with the Department of Plant Protection has completed the arrangements of aerial spray to control the spring breed of locusts.

Three aircrafts will be used for this spray to ensure complete coverage of the areas.

Punjab Minister for Agriculture Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial stating this said that steps are being taken on war footing to control locust in the province. Due to timely action of the Agriculture Department, no significant damage has been done so far to the crops in Punjab due to the locust attack. Surveillance of a total area of 3.7 million hectares has been completed and more than 44,000 liters of pesticides have been applied on an area of 133,000 hectares.

Malik Nauman Ahmad was talking to media after presiding over a meeting held at Civil Secretariat Lahore to review departmental activities for locust control. The meeting was attended by Secretary Agriculture Punjab Wasif Khurshid, Additional Secretary Agriculture (Task Force) Rana Ali Arshad, Director General Agriculture (Extension) Dr Anjum Ali, Director of Agricultural Information Punjab Muhammad Rafiq Akhtar, Chief Advisor Media for Punjab Minister for Agriculture Shahid Qadir and others Officers were present.

On the occasion, Secretary Agriculture Punjab Wasif Khurshid said that with the implementation of the best strategy formulated by the Department of Agriculture, the crops are protected from locust heart damage in the province. Instead, he prefers to eat trees such as cactus, bed, cuckoo and bath.

The Punjab Agriculture Department has also arranged more than 200 spray machines for spraying on trees. Locusts are currently migrating and special teams of the Agriculture Department are monitoring Pir Mahal, Mian Channu, Burewala, and Khairpur Tamiwali.

Punjab Agriculture Minister Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial appreciated efforts of Secretary Agriculture Wasif Khurshid and Director General Agriculture (Extension) in order to control locust in province.

The Punjab Agriculture Minister also appealed to the farmers that if any locust is observed in any area, it should be immediately reported to the local offices of the Department of Agriculture (Extension) or District Administration so that the teams of the Department of Agriculture can immediately spray it to control it.