Agriculturist warns government: Next locust attack may cause Rs 850 billion losses to country

ISLAMABAD: Agriculturists have urged the government to avert the next locust attack in the country by taking appropriate steps; otherwise, an expected locust swarm in September could cost the country Rs850 billion in financial losses.

They said that at present locust had not caused serious damage to the crops, vegetables and fruits but an expected locust swarm in September, if not controlled might destroy standing cotton, paddy, maize, vegetables and fruit crops, which might cost the country up to Rs850 billion in financial losses.

Talking to Business Recorder, Mohammad Ibrahim Mughal of Agri-Fourm Pakistan and Khalid Mehmood Khokhar of Kissan Ittehad said that locust attack in the past two months could not cause severe damages to crops because of hot weather conditions.

Ibrahim Mughal said that the recent locust attack could have caused up to Rs15 billion in financial losses to the agriculture sector mainly in Balochistan province, which was the worst affected, while in other parts of the country damages were not severe.

He added that now the relevant authorities must take serious steps to avert the next locust attack, saying in September most of the crops and fruits would be at final stages, and if appropriate steps were not taken, it could become a disaster for agri-sector of the country.

Kissan Ittehad President Khalid Mehmood Khokhar said that now the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had taken over the responsibility of tackling locust and so far the authority was moving in the right direction.

He maintained, however, the farmers were seriously concerned about the next expected locust attack, which according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) would consist of billions of locust swarms.

They said that the FAO had forecasted that within the country, adult groups and swarms were forming in parts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which received light rains during June.

Those groups and swarms are now expected to move towards Cholistan. Moreover, with the onset of monsoon rains, breeding is likely to begin in areas near Pakistan-India border.

The FAO fears that locust numbers could grow twenty-fold in the upcoming monsoon season unless extra measures were undertaken to counter the swarms.

Agriculturists and government officials acknowledge that coming few weeks could be crucial in the fight against locust infestation with major swarms expected to be reaching here from Africa.

"We haven't had that number of locusts coming here as we were expecting from June 22 to July 10. Their numbers were far less. And whatever numbers came, most of them have crossed over to India," they said.

They said that migration of most of the spring bred swarms towards India and dry conditions in southern Iran and southwest Pakistan during June, which dried up in Balochistan had not enabled the locust to cause severe damages to the crops.

They added that in the next two months all the crops would mature, lush green fields and grown crops would provide an ideal opportunely to locust to flourish; therefore, a joint regional strategy should be devised to tackle the coming situation.

A senior official of the National Locust Control Centre (NLCC), while talking to Business Recorder, said that the locust problem was likely to peak in the next five to six weeks.

"Next eight weeks between July 15 and September 15 would be critical because of monsoon and the government's ongoing commitment to anti-Covid-19 measures."

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam has said that the government has devised a national action plan to tackle the threat of locust attacks.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, the minister said that the parliament might discuss the issue of locust in the country, which might cause an estimated loss of Rs600 billion to the economy.

He said it was a national challenge, which would be tackled with the support of all the provinces. He said the prime minister had declared national emergency on January 31st and initially allocated Rs1 billion to tackle the issue.

The minister said according to a latest report, the locust was present in all the 33 districts of Balochistan. New swarms of locust would enter Pakistan from Iran and Afghanistan in two weeks time, he said.

The government was constantly working with the FAO and getting surveillance data from it on a daily basis, he said. The minister said that the NLCC along with the NDMA and district administrations were making effort to control the locust.

About 8,000 army troops were deployed for the anti-locust operation. China extended financial help of $4.9 million to Pakistan by giving it 53,000 liters of spray, sprayers and drones, he said.

He said two other countries including the UK and Japan had also given grant to cope with the situation. He said that the country needed, "real things, instead of fake ones" to bring about real change in the agricultural sector.

The minister said that the agriculture sector had the capacity to meet the national demands. "If we need wheat, agriculture will give us wheat; if we need cotton, agriculture will give us cotton," he said.

"It is about time to take some difficult decisions for the betterment of the sector."

He told the house that a package of Rs30 billion was being approved for the farmers. The package would be approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and is likely to be announced on August 14th by the Centre and the provinces.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020