Locusts attacks affect 51 districts of Pakistan: NDMA

ISLAMABAD: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Sunday said that 51 districts of the country have been affected from locusts attack, ARY NEWS reported.

Detailing the areas that came under locusts attack in the country, the NDMA said that Balochistan province remained most affected with 27 of its districts facing locusts attack, followed by 13 districts in Punjab, nine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and two in Sindh province.

The spokesman of the authority said that they had carried out surveys and sprays in the areas to counter the attack that has damaged fields in the agricultural country.

Giving details of the efforts, he said that 132,000 hectares of area was surveyed during the last 24-hours while spray was carried out at 6,690 hectares of area in Balochistan province.

“75,000 hectares area was surveyed and 2,000 hectaresof area was sprayed in Punjab province,” the authority said adding that KP’s 71,000 hectares of area was surveyed and 492 hectares of area sprayed to tackle locusts attack.

Further detailing, the NDMA said that during the past 24-hours, 190,000 hectares area was surveyed in the Sindh province out of which spray was carried out on 28 hectares area.

It merits mentioning that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations in a report released in April warned of serious food security crisis this year in Pakistan and several other regional countries due to locust invasions.

“In Pakistan, 38 per cent of the area (60pc in Balochistan, 25pc in Sindh and 15pc in Punjab) are breeding grounds for the desert locust, whereas the entire country is under the threat of invasion if the desert locust is not contained in the breeding regions,” the report titled “Desert locust situation in Pakistan” said.