KARACHI: Amid a blame game between the national and provincial governments over current locust outbreaks across the country, a national action plan to fight the invasion was announced on Thursday by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
Dismissing allegations by Sindh province that the federal government’s measures to address the plague were insufficient, Muhammad Tariq Khan, the ministry’s Department of Plant Protection (DPP) director, said the national plan “was devised in a meeting on Thursday, which was attended by representatives from all provinces and the center.”
In May, the swarming short-horned grasshoppers were spotted in the Nara desert, prompting DPP to apply insecticides. But some of the insects survived and started to breed out of control, spreading to Thar and Kohistan. In December, another locust attack destroyed wheat and vegetable crops in the province.
Speaking to Arab News on Wednesday, Ismail Rahoo, Sindh’s minister of agriculture, said the DPP had conducted a 10-day aerial application of pesticides in June on an area of 6,000 acres only. “There should be a large scale operation against locusts,” he said, urging the federal government to declare it as a natural calamity and “provide all resources as this is a huge threat to the agricultural economy.”
The federal government says it is fighting the menace.
“We have conducted aerial application of pesticides as and when required,” Khan told Arab News on Thursday. As proof that operations are underway, he cited an accident in which a “pilot and other staff were killed in a crash of the DPP’s aircraft near Sadiqabad earlier this month.”
He said the national anti-locust plan will have three stages, which will run through June 2021. He added that the government is exploring mechanisms to purchase new aircraft for aerial control. It will also allocate sufficient funds for pesticides and fuel.
Meanwhile, amid cross-government blame games, farmers say they cannot do anything but watch their crops disappearing.
“In the December attack, the locusts damaged our wheat and vegetable crops. They couldn’t hurt sugarcane as it was already ripe. But when it gets warmer, they will destroy whatever little is left,” Shahbaz Rajpar, a grower in the Faizganj area of Sindh told Arab News on Wednesday.
He added that his field was not only the source of his income but also of nearly 150 people working on his 300-acre land. “This will impact over 8,000 people in my village only,” he said.
Nisar Khaskhely of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture on Wednesday shared a video on Twitter of a fresh locust attack on his crops. He said the swarm was 10 kilometers in size.
“This is frightening. We have serious food security concerns as there seems no check at the place,” Khaskhely told Arab News and added. “There is an idiom that ‘a stitch in time saves nine.’ Here, it seems the authorities may take the situation to a level beyond nine stitches.”
Eight months into locust plague, govt says it has control strategy now
https://arab.news/vs2ys
Eight months into locust plague, govt says it has control strategy now
- The government wants to purchase new aircraft for aerial control
- Farmers in Sindh say the plague deprived them of crops and livelihood
Pakistan, UK launch £10 million higher education partnership
- Pak-UK Education Gateway second phase expands climate research, scholarships, university exchanges
- First phase was launched in 2018 and delivered 165 partnerships, 2,000 joint studies and £5 million in grants
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the British Council have launched the £10 million second phase of the Pak-UK Education Gateway, the HEC said on Monday, a joint initiative aimed at deepening collaboration between universities in both countries on research, mobility and higher-education reform.
The program, funded equally by the HEC and the British Council, builds on a partnership launched in 2018 and seeks to strengthen institutional ties between Pakistani and British universities, focusing on shared challenges including climate change, skills development and economic growth.
Education cooperation has become an increasingly important pillar of broader Pakistan-UK relations, as both countries look to expand academic mobility, research collaboration and international recognition of qualifications at a time when higher-education systems face pressure to respond to climate risks, labor-market shifts and funding constraints.
“This £10 million partnership is set to deepen collaboration between UK and Pakistani universities on critical issues like Climate Change and Mobility. A true system-to-system commitment,” the HEC said in an X post.
According to the British Council and HEC, the first phase of the Pak-UK Education Gateway supported 165 institutional partnerships, generated around 2,000 joint research papers and awarded £5 million in research grants. Officials say the second phase aims to build on that foundation as part of a longer-term effort to internationalize Pakistan’s higher-education sector.
“Education is the building block of growth and prosperity. Our work on education in Pakistan supports people throughout their lives: from helping reform education policy at the school level, to our strong partnership in higher education,” British High Commissioner Jane Marriott said in a statement.
“This next phase builds on our already strong relationship, and will unlock opportunities to help both our higher education sectors thrive.”
Opportunities under the second phase include increased funding for scholarships, joint research grants and faculty exchanges, alongside a Start-Up Challenge Fund to support Pakistan-UK university collaborations pursuing commercial opportunities and access to new markets.
The program will also focus on leadership and governance reforms within Pakistan’s higher-education system, including quality assurance, improved campus accessibility for people with disabilities, and greater participation of women in senior leadership roles. It further aims to expand opportunities for Pakistani students to study UK-accredited courses without leaving their home cities, alongside a commitment to mutual recognition of qualifications.
Pakistan’s Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said the initiative had already delivered concrete results since its launch in 2018, calling education “the bridge that connects people, cultures, and futures.”
Acting HEC Chairperson Nadeem Mahbub described the Gateway as a system-to-system partnership rather than a stand-alone program, noting that it had benefited institutions and students in both countries.
