Pakistan is currently going through the worst of locust attacks, which has caused huge damages and losses to the farmers in Punjab, Sindh, and Baluchistan. Experts fear that the attack by the swarms of locusts may lead to long-term food shortages in the country.
“Locust attacks are likely to cause Rs 800 billion loss to the country’s agriculture produce this year and this will be due to the government’s incompetence and lethargic attitude, as it failed to carry out ariel spray effectively,” said former federal minister Awais Leghari.
Swarms of locusts are inflicting heavy damage on food crops across the country. This attack is gaining frequency in many districts of Punjab, Baluchistan, and Sindh i.e, locusts have attacked in Punjab in district Vehri, Muzaffarabad, Rahim yar khan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar. Sindh; Ghotki, and Sanghar.
This attack has added insult to the injury of farmers who tried to beat drums to scare these insects away and to get rid of them. The attack has been demolishing the cotton, mango, and sugarcane crops. This attack has caused severe damage to the agriculture sector.
Moreover, locusts have spread into markets and shops also. It has caused a strange panic among people. Citizens are continuously spraying in hopes of dispersing all insects but all is going in vain.
Muhammad Afzal the chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority shred the details about the steps that will be taken to fight the locust attack. He said; “We have enough stock of pesticides in Pakistan to keep the locust attacks in check”.
National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA) has activated a hotline 051-111-222-999 for registering and resolving issues relating to the locust attacks.
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