LETTER: It is heartening to note that the Punjab government has really worked harder to deal with the challenge of locust. According to the Punjab government, "no crop losses were reported in rabi season, however, during the migration of pest from spring to summer breading areas, out of the total cultivated areas of 972,294.21 hectares only 25,312.42 hectares were damaged with various degrees."
So far so good. In other words, Punjab government's work has been satisfactory up to now. But it must not show any complacency in view of impending locust attacks from their spring-breading habitats in East Africa and Iran. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture's (FAO's) Desert Locust Information Service Manual, "Deserts locusts can fly up to 150km daily and a one square-km swarm can eat as much food as 35,000 people in terms of weight in a single day"! The governments - federal as well as provincial - are therefore required to take every possible step to curb locust attacks in the midst of Covid-10 outbreak in particular.
SHAHNAWAZ KHAN (LAHORE)
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