Agriculture Department Launched A Special Campaign For The Control Of Harmful Insects Of Cotton

Under directions of Chief Minister, Punjab, Agriculture Department is taking measures on an emergency basis to prevent the harmful insects of cotton, especially the whitefly, in order to save the labor of cotton farmers from wasting. The spokesperson of Agriculture Department, Punjab said that under the supervision of Secretary Agriculture, Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, a special campaign is underway to eliminate harmful cotton pests and special teams are fully active for cotton surveillance, monitoring and remediation of harmful pests. Secretary Agriculture, Punjab also visited various cotton areas during this ongoing campaign to review the cotton situation. The spokesman further disclosed that due to the hot and dry weather in South Punjab, the attack of cotton whitefly has been observed in some areas, for which the spraying is being done with the help of drones and helicopters with the technical support of the Pakistan Army. The spokesman further said that the whitefly takes shelter in the surrounding fields during spraying, so to remedy this, apart from cluster / community spray, drone technology is also being used to spray more areas in less time. Free spraying is being done in the cotton areas and 1400 high spray machines have been provided for pest control. Apart from this, priority supply of canal water is going on in South Punjab. Awareness campaign is also going on through print, electronic and digital media for technical support to the farmers. During this campaign, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Optma) has also received support of Rs. 50 million for the purchase of quality agricultural drugs. Agriculture Department is fully alert and is working side by side with the farmers to control the harmful insects of cotton crop.