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Armyworms leave farmers in dire-straits

By AT News |

A feminine like situation awaits Assam if one goes by the army worms that have been damaging crop lands measuring thousands of hectares in the state.

The worst-hit district is Golaghat where the caterpillar 6,671 hectares of crop field leaving the farming community in utter dilemma.

“Efforts are on to bring the situation under control. We hope it would be over in a couple of days. We are in touch with the authority,” a senior agriculture department official  told Assam Times.

Bhadra Saikia, a farmer in Sarupather area said, “ we have noticed it suddenly. Locally known as shur puk, the killer caterpillar have been engulfing more and more crop field in the district.

“We are upset with the development. Nobody is with us to assure us of the measures to end the menace,” said Saikia.

Same picture prevails in Majuli where crops on more than 1700 hectares of land have been ravaged by the army worms in the flood hit river island leaving over 4000 families in dire-straits.

Experts are fanning in the entire area to banish the army worms. “It would take a few days to drive out the caterpillar. We have been using pesticides to counter the menace,” said a senior district agriculture officer who have been visiting the damaged areas.

Majuli I followed by Dibrugarh and Sivasagar districts where the menace has damage 5000 hectares and 2,800 hectares of crop lands respectively.

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