The ongoing locust attack in Pakistan has become a much bigger risk than the coronavirus pandemic as they may affect agriculture output and threaten food security, said a report published in Bloomberg.
Falak Naz, director general of crop protection at the Ministry of Food Security and Research, told the publication that the locust-invasion now covers an area of 57 million hectares, which includes 23 million hectares of a total crop area of Pakistan.
Naz said that the areas attacked are not crop lands but warned that the swarm was moving fast.
The agriculture sector, which now faces devastating losses, has forced the authorities to divert the money, originally earmarked to fight the coronavirus, to help combat the scourge now. “This is a bigger problem than the coronavirus for Pakistan,” said Ahmad Jawad, a fruits exporter and an adviser to the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry told Bloomberg.
“You can save yourself from coronavirus by maintaining social distance, but there’s no escaping a hunger crisis if the locusts attack,” he added.
According to the publication, the crops have already been damaged by the swarms, with cotton crop being seen as the most vulnerable. Cotton-based products also make up about half of the country’s exports. The US publication has forecast that the locust attack will further worsen the outlook of Pakistan economy’s and may shrink for the first time in 68 years. This is not the first time that a locust attack has hit Pakistan, last year a swarm had arrived from Iran, but this year’s is the most severe in three decades.
According to Bloomberg, Swarms of desert locusts occur irregularly in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, usually when drought is followed by heavy rain.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has redirected the release of Rs132 million earmarked for coronavirus emergency measures. He also approved another Rs286 million for the purchase of chemicals and 25 pesticide-spraying vehicles.
