LAHORE: Expressing grave concerns over the warning issued by the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations about a second locust swarm hitting Pakistan in July, stakeholders in agri-research and exports have urged the government to take immediate steps for saving the two most precious crops of the season i.e., rice and cotton.
Both these crops are the guarantee of our food security as well as earn precious foreign exchange for strengthening the national economy. There is a need for immediate steps to carry out massive aerial spray.
Rice exports are currently hovering slightly over US$ 2.2 billion dollars and the government and exporters are endeavouring to take it to US$ 5 billion by the year 2023, but possible damage by locust swarm will hit hard these efforts rather may reverse the situation, apprehended founder chairman of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Shahzad Ali Malik while talking to Business Recorder here on Thursday.
He said that agriculture is the second largest sector of the national economy which is contributing 20 per cent in the GDP while over 50 per cent of the workforce is employed by this sector. Locust swarm is the bigger threat than Coronavirus as no one can escape from famine or hunger, he added.
Malik said already locust had damaged our wheat, pulses, oilseed, vegetables, fodder and mango crops and it is said that the coming locust swarm which is expected in July will be four times larger than what we have experienced recently.
He said that not only locust is expected from Africa but those which are breeding locally will add to the contingent. He said in July, paddy will be in the flowering stage especially in Sindh and Southern Punjab and if immediate steps are not taken it may be ruined totally by the pest.
'REAP is also going to give a presentation to the Minister for Food Security & Research (MNFS&R) on Friday regarding the ways and means to enhance the exports to US$ 5 billion in next three years.
They will also raise the issue of locust swarm and steps to save the crops not only to feed the increasing mouth in Pakistan but also to maintain our presence in the international market,' Malik added.
Talking about the remedial measures, he said that both short and long term steps are needed. In short term, Department of Plant Protection (DPP) should either acquire aircraft on lease for spray from other countries or army aviation's aircraft and helicopters should be converted for dusting (aerial spray) on large scale to deal with this pest.
In the longer run, he said that the Department of Plant Protection which had 20 aircrafts in the 1980s should be given the task to raise a big fleet to meet any such situation in the future. He said already crop size of non-basmati rice has increased manifold in Pakistan as it was 2.563 million metric tons in 2010-11 while in 2018-19 it rose to 3.54 million metric tons because of the introduction of hybrid varieties, which also help non-basmati to gain a larger share in national exports as compared to Basmati varieties. Damage to rice crop in Sindh and South Punjab means hit to this bigger chunk of our export cake, he concluded.
Owner of M K Seed, a company involved research to develop hybrid basmati and coarse varieties said that the Government has to take steps on a war footing. The only way to tackle this swarm is massive Ariel-Spray and for that, the government should import more aircrafts relaxing all rules and regulations as we are short of time.
He said that we should not close our eye to this looming threat to our agricultural sector. He said once hit, it takes four to five crops to a farmer to stand on its own feet.
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