MUZAFFARGARH: Several factors stand behind an above-average cotton crop in the cotton belt of south Punjab this year, and integrated pest management (IPM) is one of them.

“Up to 57 per cent less pesticide was sprayed on cotton crops in south Punjab districts, which helped farmers saved approximately more than Rs40 billion,” South Punjab Secretary Agriculture Saqib Ali Ateel told Dawn on Friday. The IPM is about the efficient usage of pesticides.

Agriculture department officials say the cotton sowing registered a significant increase this year in south Punjab as compared to the last year due to the fixing of support price and other incentives of the Punjab government.

Mr Ateel said the government had started implementation of IPM model making the cotton crop 115pc profitable for farmers.

Explaining the IPM, he said: “Under the IPM, farmers were told to remove alternate host plants found near the cotton fields/plants. Farmers were advised to sow cotton plants in a northwest direction for the proper ventilation of crops. Agriculture experts also advised the farmers to delay early sprays and use only biopesticides with chemical pesticides,” he said.

The government motivated the farmers to use IMP by showing them IPM farms, and through special farmer training programmes.

Mr Ateel said next year, cotton would be cultivated on more than seven million acres in Punjab.

“By implementing the IPM model, we can get more than 15 million bales,” he said, adding that the use of biopesticides and implementation of IPM model has significantly reduced the cost of cotton cultivation.

“After many years, I have earned good profits from my 10 acres of the cotton crop,” said Malik Ijaz of Kot Addu.

He said he was among a few farmers who did not abandon sowing the cotton crop, despite the fact that he never earned a profit in the last 10 years. Gashkuri Cotton Mills’ owner Abid Majeed in Sanawan area of Kot Addu said after five years, he opened and ran the mill because of the arrival of cotton bales.

“It’s safe to say that the cotton is reviving,” he said.

The secretary said 120 cotton demonstration plots were set up in 41 tehsils of 11 districts of south Punjab during the cotton season where the IPM model was fully implemented. The average yield from IPM demonstration plots in south Punjab was 34.23 million per acre.

BHUs: Up to 51 basic health units (BHUs) of south Punjab are functional for patient treatment 24/7, while 300 BHUs altogether are working 24/7 across Punjab.

Talking to Dawn, South Punjab Health Secretary Tanvir Iqbal Tabassum said the 51 BHUs were facilitating people in general treatment, maternity treatment and newborn babies’ care. He said these primary health centres were providing the best healthcare facilities.

About the breakup of the 51 south Punjab BHUs, he explained three units were in Muzaffargarh, which are in Bhuttapur, Qadirpur Chajra and Phullan. He said the Punjab government had made 300 BHUs functional 24 hours across Punjab. He said that 14 BHUs are in Multan district, 14 in Khanewal, three in Muzaffargarh, four in Rahim Yar Khan, 14 in Vehari and two in Bahawalnagar.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2022