Swarms of locusts reach Quetta, other parts of Balochistan

QUETTA: Swarms of locusts, after leaving their trail of devastation in parts of Sindh, have now landed in Balochistan, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The swarms of crop eating insects now reported to reach Quetta and before it in Mastung, Dasht and Kund Mesori, according to reports.

The swarms of locusts were reported at the Eastern Bypass of Quetta, Bhosa Mandi and Labour Colony areas.

Earlier, swarms of locusts inflicted damage to crops and vegetation in several parts of Sindh including Shikarpur, Larkana and other districts causing panic in farmers and other citizens.

The locusts witnessed at houses, trees and fruit farms in various parts of the city and the outskirts.

The residents fearing damage to their crops and fruit farms are taking efforts on self help basis to get rid of the damaging swarms of the grasshopper.

They have demanded the government to conduct spray to get rid of the locusts.

Earlier, the swarms of grasshopper were reported in Karachi, Sehwan and other cities and towns of Sindh.

The crop eating insects bring hunger with them by thoroughly eating cops and vegetation they find at any place.

Federal Plant Protection Department in a report said that November is the month of breeding for locusts adding that the swarms of the insect are moving from the desert areas of Sindh to Balochistan.

Sindh had recently asked federal plant protection department for spray of insecticide in the areas infested by the locusts in the province.

In June this year, swarms of locusts attacked cotton fields in Khairpur, Sukkur, and Ghotki. Farmers had to bear losses of hundreds of thousands of rupees due to crop loss in the attack.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in first week of September had warned that the situation relating to locusts in Pakistan was “most serious” as a second generation of the insect had been bred.

According to the FAO’s Locust Watch report, there remains a risk of further breeding, causing locust numbers to increase, with the possibility of swarm formation from late September onward.

Yemen and India are also facing a similar situation, and the situation could deteriorate in Ethiopia and Eritrea, report said.