This file photo shows locusts swarm above a mango tree orchard in Muzaffargarh, Pakistan, Friday, May 29, 2020. (Photo by AP)
Pakistan, on the verge of losing agricultural crops worth billions of dollars in the summer season due to locust attacks, has started an aggressive locust control program across the country, officials have said.
Teams from the Pakistan army and the Agriculture Ministry and Food Department were seen spraying swathes of land with pesticides, as well as using aircraft to help combat the locust plague in recent days. Authorities said on Friday (June 5) that thousands of soldiers have been deployed while 5,156 square kilometres of locust infested areas have been sprayed with insecticides.
Pakistan is suffering its worst locust invasion in recent history, and farmers say the threat is more serious than the #coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/BICJtZW2Xw
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) May 29, 2020
Officials said the locust attack is the worst locust invasion in Pakistan in nearly three decades, coming as the country is facing a sudden surge in the coronavirus pandemic.
Locusts move in swarms of up to 50 million, can travel 90 miles a day, and lay as many as 1,000 eggs per square metre of land.
Farmlands in eastern Punjab, southern Sindh and southwestern Baluchistan province have seen large scale infestation of the locusts, and fears about food security are at an all-time high.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates losses to agriculture from locusts this year could be as high as PKR 353 billion ($2.2 billion) for winter crops like wheat and potatoes and about PKR 464 billion ($2.89 billion) for summer crops.
(Source: Reuters)
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