The Jhang district administration, after successful operation, completely eliminated locust from the district.
According to details, Pakistan was facing locust attacks for the last one year while Jhang farmers were facing the crisis for the last 6 months. About 400 agri workers took part in operation and eliminated locust from 37,908 acres of land. During the operation, 5619 liter pesticides were sprayed to reduce the risk of food security.
The Punjab government initiated a plan to control locust attack and set up control rooms in all divisions and districts to monitor the situation. The government also set aside Rs 1 billion to cope with locust attack across the province.
The worst locust attack in decades ravaged standing crops in many areas of South Punjab, causing financial losses worth billions of rupees to the farmers.
The locust attacked Jhang, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal, Lodhran, Rajanpur and Vehari areas where it seriously damaged crops like cotton, wheat , maize, vegetables, sunflower, green pastures and mango orchards.
Although the desert locusts arrived in Pakistan from Iran in June 2019, it took the government at least seven months to come into action.
At a time when country’s economy is already under serious depression due to Covid-19 outbreak, some estimates state that if the locust destroys just 25 per cent of Rabi crop it will cause over Rs 350 billion loss to the country and over Rs 460 billion for Kharif.
The locust was migrating from one area to other and special teams of Agriculture Department were monitoring the situation in Mian Channu, Burewala, Khairpur Tamewali and adjoining areas.
The government was taking all out steps to control the attack and compensate the losses being faced by the farmers. The crops damaged due to the locust attack would be compensated under the crop insurance scheme.
