Sindh CM stresses emergency steps for curbing locust attacks

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah warned on Wednesday that the next year’s crops would be destroyed if a delay occurred in taking steps to curb locust attacks, ARY News reported.

Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah gave the remarks while chairing a high-level meeting for ending locust threats. “The crops for the next year will be destroyed if we don’t step forward to end the locust attacks.”

He said that the Sindh government has sprayed anti-locust pesticides on over 43,935 acres of land at own expenses, whereas, 18,871 acres of land was covered by the federal government.

Read: Locusts are present in nine districts of Sindh: Ismail Rahoo

The anti-locust pesticides spray was conducted on over 62,813 acres of land in Sindh, he added. CM Shah said that the provincial government also sought assistance from the World Bank (WB).

During a briefing, the chief minister was apprised that the locusts are likely to attack crops in Pakistan between August 25 and October 20. It was predicted earlier that fresh swarms of locusts will enter in Pakistan from Iran from May 30 to June 28.

The officials told Sindh CM that the first phase of anti-locust spray was completed in the Sindh and Balochistan. The federal government sent one plane for spraying pesticides in Sukkur, whereas, 12 aircraft were made available by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) while airblast sprayers were provided by China.