ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is expected to receive one of the major locust swarms, coming from Africa and Oman by the end of the July, officials warned.
They also warned that next few weeks could be very crucial for the country in fight against desert locust infestation with major swarms expected to reach by the end of July from the Horn of Africa.
The officials are confident that the country is much better prepared to deal with the short-horned grasshoppers, considered as one of the most voracious insects, this time than the last major attack here in 1993, but the shortage of resources could impede the effort to contain the problem.
The officials were of the view that Pakistan is on the locust migratory route and has both summer and spring breeding areas. Therefore, it is particularly prone to locust attacks and has over the years suffered several outbreaks. The latest episode here began in June last year following the start of climate change-induced international locust crisis in 2018 from the southern Arabian Peninsula’s Empty Quarter bordering Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
This year was expected to be the worst for Pakistan in 27 years because of longer than usual monsoon in 2019 and more rain towards its end due to Indian Ocean Dipole – a sea warming phenomenon. Therefore, because of favourable conditions three generations of breeding occurred. The capacity to deal with the emerging problem too was very low last year.
Meanwhile, the continuing surge in locust numbers in Horn of Africa, Yemen and other countries in the region posed a serious threat of invasion.
It was initially believed that things on the locust front could begin going bad from June. But, so far it hasn’t happened.
It possibly occurred due to effective control measures, migration of most of the spring bred swarms towards India and relatively dry conditions in southern Iran and southwest Pakistan during June, which caused the vegetation to dry up especially in Balochistan.
Read more: Toshakhana reference: Nawaz Sharif’s summon advertised by Accountability Court
