ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Locust Control Center (NLCC) said on Sunday that while the threat from the destructive desert locust has reduced significantly across the country, it is not over yet.
“As of Sunday, (the) locust is present in one district of Balochistan and one district of Sindh. Anti-locust survey and control operations are in progress,” the NLCC said in a statement, adding that it had carried out a “control operation” on 111,1920 hectares of land in the past six months.
Swarms of the crop-eating grasshopper entered Pakistan for the first time in June last year – after they were last seen in the country in 1993 – infesting 61 districts in all four provinces of the country, forcing the government to declare a national emergency.
Pakistan deployed 8,000 troops to assist other government bodies in its anti-locust fight while China allocated $4.9 million and 20 aircraft to facilitate its neighbor.
Locusts reproduce rapidly, with their eggs ready to hatch after about two weeks, while they can fly up to 150 km per day, and travel nearly 2,000 km in their lifetime to find a favorable breeding ground.
