Just as feared, clouds of locusts have been destroying food crops across the country, especially in a number of districts in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. According to news reports, crops have been attacked in Multan, Muzaffargarh, Vehari, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur in Punjab and Sanghar, Matiari and Ghotki in Sindh. How all this has left farmers, who did what they could and even beat drums to scare away the pests, hardly needs any elaboration. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has established a helpline and assured everybody that the country has enough pesticides to keep the attacks in check. But this only begs the question: why weren’t these resources used when the locusts were breeding in broad daylight and a lot of concern was raised, this space being no exception, about the imminent threat to crops? The government will not be able to brush aside the criticism coming from the Sindh government very easily. Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah wrote to the federal government for help to meet the threat as far back as March. He requested, among other things, a few aircraft to spray some of the more sensitive locations before the problem got out of hand. Sadly, the federal government did not even reply. Now everybody is running from pillar to post wondering what to do about likely food shortage ahead. Let’s not forget that these are extraordinary times, and the coronavirus and everything it has brought has already brought the economy to its knees. The World Health Organisation (WHO) only recently warned of pressure on food production and even the likelihood of famines going forward. As such, at this time, it was all the more important to protect agricultural production. For some reason relevant authorities sat back when the threat was building and only now have decided to take preventive measures. Yet now it might already be too late. For countries meeting their food requirements will become an entirely different ballgame until the pandemic goes away. Most capitals have already forbidden food export considering warnings just like the WHO’s. That would mean that countries with a natural comparative advantage in agriculture production would stand better than others. Pakistan, being an agri-economy, clearly needs to do more to protect its own natural endowment. The way this particular phenomenon of locust attacks has been handled has left a lot to be desired. The government clearly did not act in time. Now it will somehow have to make up for the lost produce as well as lost earnings for farmers. *