ABDUL RASHEED AZAD

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam on Friday declared entire Pakistan locust free, saying the country has successfully overcome the challenge of locust.

The minister said that as per estimation, Sindh province was going to lose nearly 30 percent or 1.4 million bales of cotton this year due to climate change implications, and Punjab was also badly affected.

Addressing an event organised at the National Locust Control Centre here, Imam said that due to dedicated efforts of all the concerned stakeholders, Pakistan remained successful in controlling locusts.

He warned Pakistan was facing most serious nature of climate change challenges, adding that 11 Indian states had been badly affected by the locust, and to control the locust, India might need $5 billion.

He said the provincial governments and other organisations including the NLCC, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and other institutions had played a tremendous role in eradicating the locust.

“The challenge of locust was no doubt enormous but it was met extraordinarily well with coordinated efforts of the NLCC, provincial governments, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and of course, the villagers of the affected areas,” he said.

He said due to timely deployment of equipments and other resources by the NDMA, the country managed to avoid any major loss.

Their coordinated efforts as well as the help of villagers helped confront the crop-munching pests, he further said.

Imam said about 63 districts of the country including 10 each from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Punjab, and Sindh, and almost all districts of Balochistan were affected by the locust attack, and for the first time in 60 years, locust swarms entered the country from Afghanistan via FATA region, and Dera Ismail Khan that was unexpected.

Furthermore, he said, it was also for the first time that locust settled in cropped areas of Balochistan, while in routine, it used to settle in desert areas.

“Despite difficulties at economic front, every Pakistani citizen, institutions and leadership played due role in meeting the challenge, and this can be a case study how the locust was controlled.”

The minister also stressed the need for promoting agriculture-based economy in the country, saying that the ministry was in constant touch with the provinces to formulate such policies that would help in the development of the sector.

Chief Coordinator of the National Locust Control Centre (NLCC) Lt Gen Moazzam Ejaz also expressed his satisfaction that the challenge of locusts had successfully been overcome.

“All the institutions including the provincial governments and the National Disaster Management Authority worked in close coordination to eradicate the crop-munching pests,” the general said, adding the Army Aviation worked day and night in the fight against the locusts.

NDMA Chairman, Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal, said Pakistan had developed the capacity and capability to more effectively cope with the locusts in the future.

He said the climate change situation had become a serious challenge for Pakistan as monsoon pattern as well as timing in Pakistan had significantly changed, saying as a result of climate change this year, Karachi received 350 milliliter additional rains, which created serious problems for the masses.

Speaking on the occasion, the FAO Country Representative to Pakistan, Minà Dowlatchahi, hailed Pakistan for successfully getting out of the tremendous challenge in a short time.

“We can learn from Pakistan’s good practices in the fight against locusts,” he added.