SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF PARTHENIUM (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) IN PESHAWAR VALLEY, PAKISTAN

An exploratory weed survey of four districts of the Peshawar valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa viz. Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda and Peshawar were carried out during 2009-11 to study distribution, socioeconomic, environmental and health impacts of Parthenium. Various impacts of the weed were studied by interviewing the farmers. The parthenium weed is well established in Swabi, Mardan and Charsadda districts while in Peshawar it has a little and isolated infestation. The survey depicts that P. hysterophorus is the most frequent and dominant species on road sides, waste lands, grazing lands, crops margins and crop lands with 41%, 18%, 15%, 14% and 12%, respectively. According to the farmers there are several ways for spreading of parthenium weed in which two are prominent i.e. water 37% and vehicles-machinery 26% responsible for its rapid spread. The tiny size and light weight of parthenium seeds help them spread through wind and water easily. Farmers are generally aware of the losses caused by parthenium weed to agriculture productivity. These losses are yield reduction (40%), lack of labor (21%) and quality reductions (16%). Ten percent of the respondents reported that this weed has infested grazing lands, thus causing forage shortage. Moreover, 6% of farmers mentioned that parthenium causes allergy and dermatitis. This weed has been reported infesting sorghum crop (by 35% of the farmers), maize (29%), vegetables (27%) and tobacco (6%). As a result it has caused 30% yield losses in sorghum (45% of respondents) and 20% in maize crop (42% respondents). Most of the farmers in the survey area began to take control parthenium weed since 2005, while still large numbers do not control it. Parthenium weed in the valley is mostly controled through hand weeding (64%) and tillage (17%) which are labor intensive practices. Herbicides and burning methods are also used by some of the farmers. Parthenium weed is also used as a source of fire wood. The findings of study revealed that parthenium weed not only causes problems in crop and fodder productivity but also poses serious threat to biodiversity, animal production and health.