Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday announced to provide all necessary resources needed to combat locust swarms as an emergency was declared earlier this month. Efforts are being made to cope with locust numbers, which are thought to be the worst in more than two decades.

A meeting chaired by the prime minister, in which all the four chief ministers participated through video links, was briefed by the Minister for Food Security Khusro Bakhtiyar and other top officials about the National Action Plan to eliminate locust swarm attacks. The prime minister was briefed during the review meeting that committees for inter-provincial coordination, surveillance and monitoring purposes were formed, along with an apex committee to deal with the matter, and a control room was also established.

He was briefed that district-level bodies were also formed to deal with the matter. The prime minister was also informed regarding cooperation with China to tackle locusts attack in the country. "We have also provided funds to [the National Disaster Management Authority] NDMA," said an official of the Finance Ministry.

The chief ministers of the provinces also briefed the premier over the situation and conveyed their suggestions to deal with the issue. The prime minister assured them that the government was aware of the seriousness of the matter and it was necessary to improve coordination between the federal and the provincial authorities to deal with the issue. "We are committed to provide all resources for eliminating locusts from the country," he said.

On February 6, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research announced that it had decided to declare a national emergency over locusts attack in parts of the country and a summary in that regard was conveyed to the federal cabinet.

The ministry said that after a gap of 30 years, the locusts had once again attacked the country. "We have acquired the services of the armed forces and the Pakistan Air Force in combating the issue," they said, adding 300 personnel of the armed forces were receiving training to tackle it. The farmers of the country are struggling to combat the worst locust plague in more than two decades as insect swarms decimate entire harvests in the country's agricultural heartlands and send food prices soaring. The crisis is so severe that the government has declared a nationwide emergency and urgently appealed for help from the international community. Officials in Sindh fear the infestation will devastate the supply of cotton, the local cash crop, ahead of its harvest in the coming months. Local surveys of the damage are continuing, but the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture says nearly half of all the crops have been destroyed near the port city of Karachi.