Agri Dept sensitises farmers to pest use

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 7

The district Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department organised an awareness seminar on pest management in Bhogpur under Mission Tandarust Punjab on Wednesday.

Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Nazar Singh, experts Dr Baljinder Bhullar, Dr Karan Singh Chib, Dr Dilbagh Singh and Dr Balkar Chand gave the farmers information regarding useful and harmful insects.

The department has been organising such seminars since last week, with an aim to enable the farmers to identify good worms.

The officials stated that the farmers must not spray unnecessarily on the crop and must contact nearby agriculture office whenever they find any kind of insect in their field. The officials said not all insects were harmful for the crop. They also apprised farmers of Punjab Government’s decision to ban nine pesticides, including Acephate, Triazophos, Thiamethoxam 25% WG, Carbendazim 50% WP, Tricyclazole 75% WP, Buprofezin, Carbofuron, Propiconazole and Thipanate Methyl.

The officials said if these pesticides were sprayed on basmati, its residue remains in grain and the produce fails various quality tests for exports. This leads to wastage of time, money and energy of the farmers. The experts said spray of pesticides on the crop without need not only increased the cost of cultivation but also polluted the environment.

They said the Mission Tandarust aimed to ensure a clean environment by making farmers aware of the judicious use of pesticides.

White fly, grasshopper, aphids were some of the pests which were not good for cotton, wheat and paddy crops, respectively, the officials told the farmers.

The camps are being organised in every block under the guidance of Chief Agriculture Officer Nazar Singh.

“It has been noticed that several bad worms have increased in number in the past few years,” said officials of the department.