Daily Times

Member Core Committee of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Taj Haider has said that another much larger swarm of Locust has hit Thar while the slumber of the Ministry of National Food Security & Research (NFSR) of the Federal Government continues undisturbed.

In a statement issued here on Monday, Senator Taj Haider said that plant protection and eradicating locust was the duty of that Federal Ministry, but the cries of the local farmers whose crops have been destroyed and continuous appeals of the provincial government have been falling on deaf ears.

Locust attacks in Sindh and Southern Punjab have been continuing for the last six months. Government of Sindh has made arrangement for ground spray of pesticides out of its own resources, but nothing short of areal spray on the swarms and their breeding grounds can eradicate calamity. 40% of the ready cotton crop and other crops have already been lost.

Senator Taj Haider recalled that during the government of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, locust presence was detected inside Pakistan. Planes of Plant Protection Department as well as planes from UAE and Iran were mobilized within 24 hours and locust swarms were destroyed within 3 days without causing any damage to the crops.

Plant Protection Department in those days had only 3 planes. Now it has 20 planes. Only 3 planes out of 20 are in working order. Only one can carry out aerial spray because there are no pesticides in stock. It is understood that an approved summary for buying pesticides is waiting for the release of funds for many months.