Fakhar Imam asks provinces to compensate farmers hit by locust attacks

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Fakhar Imam, has suggested the provinces to pay compensation money to the farmers facing a crisis due to locust attacks on crops, ARY News reported.

Fakhar Imam said that the authorities needed vehicles and technical staff to cope with the locust attacks. He also suggested paying the compensation money to the farmers in parts of the country which faced locust attacks.

The minister said that the federal government allocated Rs26.5 billion funds while devising National Action Plan (NAP) for Locust Control. The funds will be utilised to purchase spray planes, machinery and vehicles.

Read: 19.26 acres of land surveyed by NLCC for locust presence

He added that the Centre was in talks with provincial governments for the payment of its portion of funds. Imam also expressed fear that the country could face fresh locust attack as swarms from Somalia were heading towards Pakistan.

On July 10, Prime Minister Imran Khan had granted in-principal approval to Phase-II of the National Action Plan for Locust Control to eradicate the menace of ravenous pests posing risk to the country’s food security.

Accompanied by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, Prime Minister Imran Khan had visited the National Locust Control Centre where he chaired a meeting to get a detailed briefing on the government’s efforts to get rid of locust invasions.