Locust attack may ultimately threaten food security.

Byline: Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD -- In the midst of coronavirus impact on health and livelihoods, Pakistan is also facing an imminent danger of locust attacks that may ultimately affect food security, it emerged during a recent hearing in the Supreme Court of a case pertaining to the prevention of coronavirus pandemic.

Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan on Tuesday told a five-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, that the country was bracing for an imminent brunt of locust attack.

A huge swarm of locusts will be migrating from some African countries such as Ethiopia to Pakistan in the coming days that may damage the crops, the AG feared, recalling how 30 years ago the country had faced a similar plague.

He apprised the SC of steps being taken by the government to prevent locust attacks for which the National Disaster ManageAment Authority (NDMA) had been involved to devise strategies.

The CJP recalled how in yesteryear, the plant protection department of the government used to spray pesticides to protect standing crops from all kinds of pest attacks that harmed food and livestock. He regretted that the department had faded into oblivion, as no one had ever heard about the functioning of this institution.

NDMA tells apex court it's alive to situation

The chief justice, during the hearing of coronavirus case on Monday, had also expressed the fear that the country might face food security issue due to the locust attack and had questioned why the practice of aerial spray had been done away with.

While carrying out pesticide spray to eliminate locusts during the previous wave of attack, a pilot and an aviation engineer lost their lives on Jan 12 when their single-engine plane crashed in Cholistan. The light aircraft was hired for spraying pesticide in the area to tackle the renewed wave of locust attack, which began in December 2019, on the request of the district administration.

Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal, chairman of the NDMA, told the apex court that the authority was alive to the situation.

He said the NDMA had signed a contract with a...