Pakistan declares national emergency over locust swarms

[Kailash Kumar]

Pakistan declares national emergency over locust swarms

Jenipher Camino Gonzalez

01.02.2020

Pakistan's government declared a national emergency on Saturday in response to swarms of desert locusts in the eastern part of the country.

Prime Minister Imran Khan made the emergency declaration following a government briefing on the situation on Friday.

"We are facing the worst locust infestation in more than two decades and have decided to declare national emergency to deal with the threat," Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Saturday.

The desert locusts — large herbivores that resemble grasshoppers — arrived in Pakistan from Iran in June and have already ravaged cotton, wheat, maize and other crops.

Favorable weather conditions and a delayed government response have helped the locusts breed and attack crop areas.

Their potential for large-scale destruction is raising fears of food insecurity.

National Food Security Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar said the locust swarms were currently on the Pakistan-India border around Cholistan and were previously in Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.

"The locust attack is unprecedented and alarming," Bakhtiar told Pakistani lawmakers in a briefing on Friday.

"Action has been taken against the insect over 0.3 million acres (121,400 hectares) and aerial spray was done on 20,000 hectares," he was quoted as saying by Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune. "District administrations, voluntary organizations, aviation division and armed forces are put into operation to combat the attack and save the crops," he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan pledged to tackle the issue, adding that protection of agriculture and farmers was the government's priority.

"The federal government will take all possible steps and provide required facilities to protect crops from any possible danger with special focus on the danger of locust," Khan said, according to Dawn.

The last time Pakistan saw a serious threat of locusts was in 1993. Currently, locust swarms are affecting neighboring India and countries in East Africa.

https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-declares-national-emergency-over-locust-swarms/a-52224762

 

[GHALIB]

locusts are attacking india too.

 

[YeBeWarned]

scary aliens ..

 

[FuturePAF]

locusts are attacking india too.

What is India doing to combat these swarms?

 

[fitpOsitive]

Pakistan declares national emergency over locust swarms

Jenipher Camino Gonzalez

01.02.2020

Pakistan's government declared a national emergency on Saturday in response to swarms of desert locusts in the eastern part of the country.

Prime Minister Imran Khan made the emergency declaration following a government briefing on the situation on Friday.

"We are facing the worst locust infestation in more than two decades and have decided to declare national emergency to deal with the threat," Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Saturday.

The desert locusts — large herbivores that resemble grasshoppers — arrived in Pakistan from Iran in June and have already ravaged cotton, wheat, maize and other crops.

Favorable weather conditions and a delayed government response have helped the locusts breed and attack crop areas.

Their potential for large-scale destruction is raising fears of food insecurity.

National Food Security Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar said the locust swarms were currently on the Pakistan-India border around Cholistan and were previously in Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.

"The locust attack is unprecedented and alarming," Bakhtiar told Pakistani lawmakers in a briefing on Friday.

"Action has been taken against the insect over 0.3 million acres (121,400 hectares) and aerial spray was done on 20,000 hectares," he was quoted as saying by Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune. "District administrations, voluntary organizations, aviation division and armed forces are put into operation to combat the attack and save the crops," he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan pledged to tackle the issue, adding that protection of agriculture and farmers was the government's priority.

"The federal government will take all possible steps and provide required facilities to protect crops from any possible danger with special focus on the danger of locust," Khan said, according to Dawn.

The last time Pakistan saw a serious threat of locusts was in 1993. Currently, locust swarms are affecting neighboring India and countries in East Africa.

https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-declares-national-emergency-over-locust-swarms/a-52224762

Where are the birds and creatures who naturally keep these locuts under control?

 

[Kailash Kumar]

Where are the birds and creatures who naturally keep these locuts under control?

@fitpOsitive

From an article on the current locust swarms in Africa:

“People and birds often eat locusts but usually not enough to significantly reduce population levels over large areas.”

https://time.com/5771621/locust-swarms-africa/

From an article on how to control locust swarms:

Currently, the most commonly used control is insecticide.
Sprayed from land or aerial vehicles, whole swarms can be targeted in relatively short periods of time.
However, this has obviously led to some environmental concerns.

Perhaps more promising are so-called biological control mechanisms.
Natural predators such as wasps, birds and reptiles may prove effective at keeping small swarms at bay.
For managing more established swarms, newly-developed targeted microbial biopesticedes, such as the fungus-based “Green Muscle”, offer a larger-scale solution.

However, one of the most effective ways to avoid the devastating effects of locust plagues is to prevent them from happening in the first place. Considerable resources are allocated to early warning and preventative control strategies. Locust monitoring stations collect data on weather, ecological conditions and locust numbers, making forecasts of the timing and location of breeding.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/11/how-can-we-control-locust-swarms/

So, birds are not (sufficiently) able to control (larger) swarms.
(Bio)pesticides are necessary to control the larger swarms.

 

[fitpOsitive]

@fitpOsitive

From an article on the current locusts swarm in Africa:

“People and birds often eat locusts but usually not enough to significantly reduce population levels over large areas.”

https://time.com/5771621/locust-swarms-africa/

From an article on how to control locust swarms:

Currently, the most commonly used control is insecticide.
Sprayed from land or aerial vehicles, whole swarms can be targeted in relatively short periods of time.
However, this has obviously led to some environmental concerns.

Perhaps more promising are so-called biological control mechanisms.
Natural predators such as wasps, birds and reptiles may prove effective at keeping small swarms at bay.
For managing more established swarms, newly-developed targeted microbial biopesticedes, such as the fungus-based “Green Muscle”, offer a larger-scale solution.

However, one of the most effective ways to avoid the devastating effects of locust plagues is to prevent them from happening in the first place. Considerable resources are allocated to early warning and preventative control strategies. Locust monitoring stations collect data on weather, ecological conditions and locust numbers, making forecasts of the timing and location of breeding.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/11/how-can-we-control-locust-swarms/

So, birds are not (sufficiently) able to control (larger) swarms.
(Bio)pesticides are necessary to control the larger swarms.

May be a GMO based virus will work.

 

[Kailash Kumar]

May be a GMO based virus will work.

@fitpOsitive

Interesting idea.

But how would you infect the locusts with the virus?

And how do you know for sure that other animals, like humans, are not affected / infected by the virus or by possible future mutations of the virus?

I think that prevention and biopesticides are safer methods (especially for humans) to control locust swarms.

 

[fitpOsitive]

@fitpOsitive

Interesting idea.

But how would you infect the locusts with the virus?

And how do you know for sure that other animals, like humans, are not affected / infected by the virus or by possible future mutations of the virus?

I think that prevention and biopesticides are safer methods (especially for humans) to control locust swarms.

As far as these locusts are concerned, all I know is that these grow up in those desert areas where rain fall takes places fewer times in a year. These areas remain dry for most of the year. So, there are almost no birds and other insects to control these locusts.
One way of eradicating these locusts is to pass water canals from dry parts of Thar and Balochistan to increase the number of birds in that region. This solution will solve many problems with one stroke.
I will urge people of Balochistan to struggle for at least one river for their province. And at least some canals should pass rights through Thar to Ocean.

 

[Chhatrapati]

What is India doing to combat these swarms?

Sprayed insecticide. It caused major damages in the state of Gujarat but, not in the scale you see in Pakistan.
Good luck to you.

 

[FuturePAF]

Sprayed insecticide. It caused major damages in the state of Gujarat but, not in the scale you see in Pakistan.
Good luck to you.

Good Luck to you and your countrymen as well.

 

[Last starfighter]

Where are the birds and creatures who naturally keep these locuts under control?

Full up

 

[Kailash Kumar]

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tries to battle locust invasion with aerial spraying

REHMAT MEHSUD

February 05, 2020

A man shows a locust killed by aerial spraying in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Feb. 5, 2020.

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government started aerial spraying in Dera Ismail Khan on Wednesday amid a further increase in locust swarms in the impoverished region.

Having devastated crops in parts of Sindh last year, desert locusts are attacking large swathes of the southern region of KP province.

“We have sent a drone to kill and contain locust swarms in Darazinda and Chodwan, two hamlets on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan, which share the border with Balochistan province. We are really worried as the insects attacked our main wheat crops. Currently, we use one drone but keeping in view its efficiency, we will acquire four more to thoroughly cleanse the area of the insects,” Rehmat Deen, director general of the KP Agriculture Extension Department, told Arab News on Tuesday.

“The agriculture department uses power sprayers, maruyama, mistblower, micronair, winkle mounted and knapsack sprayers to purge the area of locusts. The KP government is also weighing other options such as giving insecticides to farmers to help them protect their crops from the looming attacks,” he added.

A drone takes off to conduct aerial spraying against locust swarms in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Feb. 5, 2020.

Desert locusts, swarming short-horned grasshoppers, have been destroying crops in Africa and Asia for centuries. Their ability to move in huge swarms with great speed makes them one of the most devastating agricultural plagues.

In January last year, the locusts flew from the Red Sea coast of Sudan and Eritrea to hit Saudi Arabia and Iran. They entered Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province in March.

Agriculture expert Anwar Khan Bhittani told Arab News that although aerial spraying would be effective in killing and controlling the outbreak, raising awareness among farmers was of key importance.

“There is a dire need to raise awareness among farmers to inform agriculture officials about the location of locust swarms at night. Aerial spraying should be carried out at night as locusts cannot fly in the dark,” he said.

Abdul Mateen Babar, a farmer from Dera Ismail Khan, said that in his area locusts had invaded ready crops and even trees.

“Before the use of drones, locals used to beat drums in the middle of their crops to frighten them away. I don’t think drone spraying will be effective enough, rather the government should look for a tangible solution such as distribution of pesticides among farmers,” he told Arab News.

According to Bhittani, the central government should launch simultaneous campaigns in all locust-hit provinces to completely eradicate the insects and control their spillover from colder to warmer parts of the country.

“Locusts can travel up to 150 kilometers daily and a female insect lays up to 200 eggs at once. The central government needs to declare a state of emergency to thwart the menace. The insects are not mature yet. They will create havoc if timely measures are not taken,” he said.

https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1623531/pakistan

 

[Last starfighter]

We should try and domesticate them and send them over the border