Pakistan’s neglect behind locust menace in India’s bordering districts

Sindh’s agriculture minister had suggested farmers to cook locusts in biryani and senior officials of Pakistan Government even called them not-harmful. The reports in Pakistani media since October are enough to indicate that inaction by Pakistani government agencies was the main reason behind the largest ever locust attacks in Sindh province of Pakistan since 1961. These locust swarms are now attacking crops on Indian side.

When the farmers in Sindh province were begging to save their crops from locusts in November, Muhammad Ismail Rahoo, Minister of Agriculture in the state government reportedly suggested them to cook the locusts in biryani. However, Rahoo also alleged that the Central Government of Pakistan for was not being serious in helping the state government in destroying the locusts. The minister informed that the Central government had provided three planes but only one pilot to carry out spray of insecticides.

These locust swarms have now crossed the border and destroyed thousands of acres of crops in the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. The allegations of Indian agriculture scientists and experts on Pakistan's inaction could be corroborated with news reports published in Pakistani media since October.

A report published in the Pakistan Today on November 11, has termed the locust population in Karachi highest since 1961. Despite the international Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issuing alarms after alarms about locust menace, the Department of Plant Protection (DPP) of Pakistan Government did not take any action. Even after huge swarms of locusts descended in Karachi region on November 11 and people including farmers suffered a lot which besides crop destruction also led to disruption of some events, the DPP Technical Director Muhammad Tariq Khan said locust swarms were 'not harmful and were in routine migration'. According to media reports out of 21 crop spraying aeroplane fleet with DPP only two were functional in 2019 which hampered the fight against the locusts. Why Pakistan had turned blind eye to this menace? The Pakistan authorities answered this question.

Another publication, The Nation has also reported about huge crop destruction by locust swarms in various regions of Baluchistan province of Pakistan. The WION on November 21 also highlighted the menace of locusts in Pakistan but the government agencies did not respond with appropriate measures to destroy insects.

The attack of locust swarms from Pakistan is not new but this time it is unusual in terms of number and also for extending beyond the season. Generally, the arrival of locust swarms in bordering districts of India happens in May and is minimized during winter season but this year it has continued even when the region is facing extreme winter.

However, according to media reports, the Pakistani farmers have also suffered huge loss due to locust attacks. The farmers' leaders in Sindh region have reported about 40 percent of crop destruction which includes cotton, vegetables, wheat and tomato etc. The situation is also similar in Balochistan region as well. In a report Al-Jazeera has blamed the Yemen war behind the locust problem in Pakistan as the Yemen government could not get time and resources to control the locust population due to the ensuing war. However, Pakistan's Dawn has blamed India for locust attack in the Islamic State.

Meanwhile, Gujarat's Banaskantha district is reportedly most infested from locust attack. Punamchand Parmar, Additional Chief Secretary, state Agriculture department informed that locusts were destroyed from 7,000 hectares of the area by using 4,900 liters of pesticides. "We have destroyed almost the entire population of locusts in the district while remaining fled to Jalore district in Rajasthan," said Parmar. The Central government has deployed eight teams in Jalore to tackle the situation. Locusts from Tharparkar in Pakistan were migrating towards Balochistan for breeding season, but now a large number of them have been killed. The farmers whose crops were destroyed by locusts will be compensated as per the State Disaster Response Fund provisions, under which Rs 6,800 are paid per hectare if 33 percent of crop or more is damaged, Parmar said. Rajasthan government has also requested for Central help to control the locust swarms.

This problem highlights the need of cooperation between nations and international agencies to control such menace. Though it looks as an immediate fallout of deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan, saving the corps of Pakistani farmers was something beyond the reach of India. Here international agencies could have played a better role if they had better coordination as the problem seem to have started from Yemen.

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