Locusts thrive in deserts as covid-19 spread takes precedence

KARACHI: The threat of novel coronavirus spread has slowed down operations against locust swarms, which could still affect the upcoming Kharif sowing season, an official said on Wednesday.

An official of the Sindh Agriculture Department told The News that locust would affect the new Kharif crops, which were ready for sowing. “It will affect new cotton and paddy crops, which will soon be sown.”

He said that monsoon season was about to begin, and that would again increase locust population. “The next three months are critical,” he lamented. Locust eggs and baby locusts are found in desert areas of seven districts of Sindh, including Tharparkar, Umerkot, Sanghar, Nawabshah (Shaheed Benazirabad), Khairpur, Sukkur and Ghotki.

The official said that China had sent aid of remote sprays, but the federal government had not provided any spray to Sindh, as everyone remained in the grip of coronavirus. The government in the centre seems to have forgotten about the locust issue, it was still a threat to food security, the official reminded.

Besides providing remote sprays, a delegation of Chinese experts in February had offered 50 vehicles to spray 16,000 hectares per day, and 50 units of drones for spraying and monitoring 1,333 hectares per hour along with an aircraft.

By the end of February, around 30 million hectares were affected by locusts in Pakistan. Of which, 0.9 million hectares were surveyed and 0.3 million hectares were controlled. The delegation had also suggested measures for the Pakistan government. However, sources said that so far no guidelines on locust attack were followed.

On the other hand, Sindh Minister for Agriculture Muhammad Ismail Rahoo has demanded six aerial spray aircrafts from the federal government, saying locust was ready to affect crops starting next month.

He said the federal government should take action against locust, before monsoon begins, as that would nurture enough pests to trigger swarms in summer. “Once the swarms are formed, it would be difficult to handle the situation,” he said.

Rahoo said not only Sindh, but a vast area of Punjab and Balochistan was also filled with eggs and baby locusts. Thus, it was need of time that the Plant Protection Department initiates aerial and ground spray in those areas and provides at least four defender vehicles to each district.

He said the federal government’s national action plan was not visible to end locust from the country. Lethargy of the federal government would cost a lot to the growers in the country, as locust swarms were coming in Sindh from Punjab and Balochistan, he said.

Last year too, non-serious attitude of the federal government had resulted in destruction of crops by locust, he blamed. The provincial minister said Sindh had also instructed its team to be ready and alert amid any attack of locust. It has been ordered to spray fields wherever required.

The provincial government has purchased 19 new field spray vehicles. Currently, 25 vehicles and agriculture department extension wing’s 57 manual teams were available, while the central control room was established in Hyderabad. The provincial minister has instructed the agriculture officials to revive emergency centres in affected districts and to depute agriculture department staff at union council level.