Preventive Measures taken by Government:

 The Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan declared a national emergency in the

wake of the locust infestation in February.
 The government has developed a ‘National Action Plan for Surveillance and Control of Desert
Locust in Pakistan’, with a mandate to safeguard national food security through efficient
coordination with key stakeholders; timely resource mobilization; effective surveillance, control
operations and mass awareness activities.
 Tariq Khan, the technical director at the Department of Plant Protection (DPP) at
the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, said the infestation is being
fought with the help of the three-stage plan, but that if it is not controlled, the
locust infestation “is a serious threat in the entire South Asia region.”
https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/regional-cooperation/locust-food-security-pakistan/?
gclid=Cj0KCQiA7oyNBhDiARIsADtGRZa8CvYG7XbZ0JsG518WlPXKD_Vu0p_7KmY3TMF570DkJpY3n-
C3TGYaArUPEALw_wcB

 Murad Ali Shah, the chief minister of Sindh province — Pakistan’s second-largest crop-producing
region — ordered the release of 286 million rupees for the purchase of chemicals and 25
pesticide-spraying vehicles.
 The government is using four aircraft and half-a-dozen army helicopters for crop dusting, and is
planning to buy six planes from Air Tractor Inc.

https://theprint.in/world/locusts-pose-bigger-economic-threat-to-pakistan-than-coronavirus/
438233/

Preventive Measures with help of China:

 With support from the FAO, China and the government, a mitigation strategy is in

place through which pesticide and spraying machines have been provided to
farmers. 
 China has agreed to assist Pakistan to combat the menace of locust in various
parts of the country with $5 million technical support besides providing 50
drones and 300,000 litres of pesticides to carry out spray in affected areas of
Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab.
 A team of Chinese experts also visited Pakistan in March to assess the locust
infestation.
Preventive Measures with help of FAO:

 FAO has provided support to the locust surveillance and control program in Pakistan
by providing technical and operational support from the very early onset.
 FAO was instrumental in providing 14 Defender type vehicles, sprayers, 30 eLocust3
rugged handheld tablets for data collection in the field, and support in undertaking
joint surveys and border meetings with neighboring countries, locust forecasting and
specialized training of staff.
 FAO director general Qu Dongyu signed the ‘Technical Cooperation
Programme’ with Minister for National Food Security and Research
Khusro Bakhtiar on Saturday, under which FAO will make available
$700,000 to Pakistan for the desert locust emergency measures.

 The second agreement was signed by the FAO chief with Minister for
Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam. The FAO’s climate change
resilience project in Pakistan for which the Green Climate Fund
approved $47 million will directly benefit 1.3 million people. The project
is designed to transform Indus River Basin by improving agriculture and
water management to make this vital food-producing region more
resilient to climate change.

 This is the first FAO-led GCF project in Asia — an important step

forward in FAO’s broader support to countries to respond to climate
change in partnership with the GCF.

https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/desert-locust-situation-pakistan-locust-surveillance-and-
control-operations-and

https://www.dawn.com/news/1534764
Preventive Measures with help of (CWSA):

 In response to the locust swarm attack in Sindh, Community World Service Asia
(CWSA) is supporting 1,600 farming families with conditional cash grants for
tilling/ploughing their lands to eradicate the locust eggs before hatching.
 With this support, around 1,600 hectares of land will be rid of locust eggs and will
be prepared for the next cultivation.
 Under this project, CWSA is also supporting the National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) with provision of pesticides and is providing training to approx.
2,000 farmers on Integrated Crop Management and Integrated Pest
Management approaches as preparedness measures. This will enable
communities to efficiently manage pest attacks in the future.

Preferred Policy Measures

Government should

• ensure timely supply of agricultural inputs,

• ensure price stability for agricultural produce,

• ease loan repayment conditions or waive loans,

• remove restrictions on marketing in districts beyond where the produce was raised

https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/643406/covid-19-locust-swarms-farm-
households-pakistans.pdf