ISLAMABAD: China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) on Tuesday donated 12 agricultural drones to Pakistan to battle locust swarms and improve food security, the Chinese Embassy has said.

Massive swarms of the destructive desert locust entered Pakistan for the first time after 1993 in June last year, with the crop-eating grasshopper expanding its territory to 61 districts in all four provinces of the country, Pakistan’s food security ministry has said.

The invasion of the insects has been declared a national emergency.

China’s MARA handed over the agricultural drones to Pakistan’s Ministry of National Food Security and Research at the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing on July 28.

Earlier this month, Pakistan announced it had developed agricultural drones to fight locust swarms.