Pakistan deploys thousands of army troops, machinery to fight locust invasion

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is battling a locust invasion on a ‘national level’ with the assistance of 9,000 army troops, technical staff and a host of machinery to protect its agricultural land, federal minister for national food security and research, Syed Fakhar Imam, told Arab News on Friday.
Massive swarms of the destructive desert locust entered Pakistan in June last year for the first time after 1993 and settled in different parts of the country due to torrential rains in February and March. The crop-eating grasshopper has now spread to 61 districts in all four provinces in the country.
“This is a national issue, a national threat, and we should fight it as a unifying force at the national level,” Imam said.
“Around 8,000 to 9,000 army troops are also taking part [in the operation against locusts] throughout Pakistan,” the minister said. “They [the soldiers] are on call as per the need … and deployed in different numbers where needed.”
The government has deployed 1,113 teams with four army helicopters besides four other special aircrafts and sprayers to eliminate the pest.
Some losses have been reported already as the desert locust, one of the world’s most voracious insects, threatens agricultural production and food security.
“The losses to cotton, fodder and vegetables are reported, but overall situation isn’t bleak,” the minister said, adding that provincial governments had been directed to carry out assessment surveys to ascertain the scale of the damage.
The worst is yet to come, Imam continued, as mega swarms of the locusts are predicted to hit Pakistan in June and July from neighboring Iran and Oman. 
“Currently, we don’t have big swarms... one mega swarm can destroy around 500,000 acres and this can be dangerous [for Pakistan],” he said.
Recently, Pakistan received 375,000 liters of insecticide as a gift from China and is procuring more to continue operations.
“I think the best possible efforts are made in the past four to five weeks to get rid of the locust,” the minister said, and rejected the possibility of a looming food security crisis in the coming months.
The locust swarms can be of millions, fly up to 150 km per day, and may travel nearly 2,000 km in their lifetime to find a favorable environment for breeding. They rapidly reproduce and eggs usually hatch after about two weeks.
Currently, 38 percent Pakistan’s area (60 percent in Balochistan, 25 percent in Sindh and 15 percent in Punjab) are breeding grounds for the locust, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN.
“The entire Pakistan is under the threat of invasion if the locust is not contained in the breeding regions,” Keith Cressman, Senior Locust Forecasting Officer at FAO, told Arab News.
The FAO estimates that Pakistan’s potential agricultural losses due to the locust invasion could be Rs353 billion for winter crops, and about Rs464 billion for summer crops at an estimated 25 percent damage level.
Aisha Khan, CEO of the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change, said Pakistan should eliminate the locust breeding grounds as early as possible to keep agricultural and economic losses to a minimum.
“The locust invasion can pose a serious economic strain and food security challenge if Pakistan fails to get rid of it in the next four to five months,” she told Arab News.