Authorities urge calm as locusts fly over Pakistan’s megacity

KARACHI: Authorities in Pakistan’s seaside metropolis of Karachi urged the citizens to stay calm after a massive swarm of locusts flew over different parts of the city on Monday morning.
“The relevant departments have been alerted and there is no need to panic,” Sindh’s Minister for Agriculture, Ismail Rahoon, told Arab News, adding that locusts had not damaged any crops or plants. “This has happened for the second time since the creation of Pakistan.”
The locusts first entered District Malir of the city on Sunday. The area has plenty of agricultural land where vegetables are grown for Karachi’s largest market.
On Monday morning, social media users started sharing videos from District East, Shahrah-e-Faisal, National Stadium and Bahadurabad areas of the city where armies of locusts could be seen.
“It was a very frightening scene,” Asim Ali, a resident of Malir, told Arab News. “I have never seen locusts in such large numbers.”
However, officials said there was no need to panic.
“The locusts are migrating from summer-monsoon breeding zone to the winter-spring breeding zone of Balochistan’s coastal areas,” Muhammad Tariq Khan, Department of Plant Protection, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, told Arab News.
Desert locust flies during daytime and settle at night. Such migrations do not cause any damage since such movement is not in search for food, the official said, adding: “We are monitoring the situation. The relevant desert locust control teams are ready to intervene according to the technical guidelines, if required.”
Pakistan has surveyed an area of 550,000 hectares and controlled 110,000 hectares by ground and aerial spray in Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab since March 2019.
“During this period, the locusts were confined to the desert and were not allowed to attack the cultivated area,” he informed.
Experts say desert locusts prefer sandy soil with moisture and vegetation since such habitat help them breed and multiply. In Pakistan, desert locusts have two breeding seasons and regions: the winter-spring breeding zone of Balochistan between February to June; and the summer-monsoon breeding zone of Tharparkar, Nara and Cholistan deserts between June and November.