Pakistan faces locusts attack, threat to food security

In the pandemic of coronavirus impact on health and livelihoods, Pakistan is also facing an imminent danger of locusts attack threat to food security, it was discussed during a recent hearing in the Supreme Court of a case pertaining to the prevention of coronavirus pandemic.

Pakistan faces locusts attack, threat to food security

Pakistan is also facing an imminent danger of locust attack which is a threat to food security. Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan told a five-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, that the country was bracing for an imminent brunt of locust attack.

A huge swarm of locusts will be migrating from some African countries such as Ethiopia to Pakistan in the coming days that may damage the crops, the AG feared, recalling how 30 years ago the country had faced a similar plague.

He apprised the SC of steps being taken by the government to prevent locust attacks for which the National Disaster Manage­ment Authority (NDMA) had been involved to devise strategies.

The CJP recalled how in yesteryear, the plant protection department of the government used to spray pesticides to protect standing crops from all kinds of pest attacks that harmed food and livestock. He regretted that the department had faded into oblivion, as no one had ever heard about the functioning of this institution.

In its recent report ‘Desert locust situation in Pakistan’, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations had cautioned Pakistan of a potentially serious food security crisis this year due to locust attacks.

The FAO had highlighted migration pattern of desert locust in South West Asia, its current invasion in different countries, the potential impact on Pakistan’s agricultural economy as well as the ongoing efforts of Pakistan’s government to contain the pest and the emerging scenario.

The report had expressed the fear that Pakistan and Iran in the eastern region were prone as locust breeding was taking place in these areas.