PPP wants action plan to avert famine threat.

Byline: Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has called upon the government to come up with an action plan to effectively check the threat of famine in the country posed by locusts.

'Farmers across Pakistan are suffering the worst plague of locusts in recent history which will cause a loss of Rs600 billion to Pakistani economy,' PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman said on Thursday.

Talking to a select group of reporters, she noted that this would be economically devastating for the country as agriculture accounts for 20pc of the country's GDP and 65pc of the population live and work in its agricultural areas.

'The fact that the locust plague in Pakistan may wipe out livelihoods and worsen food security, should be enough to wake the federal government from its deep slumber to help the farmers,' Senator Rehman said.

She said around 38pc of Pakistan was now a breeding ground for the desert locusts and more than 140,000 acres of crops had been damaged in Pakistan alone since last April. 'Considering these grim reports, it is surprising that the Federal government has not come up with an effective policy to tackle this issue,' she added.

Ms Rehman said Sindh was the most vulnerable to this new locust invasion and there was a fear of a potential loss of Rs451 billion, which was approximately 70pc of Sindh's budget. She regretted that the federal government had still not launched a spraying drive in Sindh and nor has PM Khan taken any action despite the CM Sindh's request.

The Sindh...

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