ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Tuesday ordered officials concerned to urgently do their best to control locust attacks on crops to ensure national food security.

On the instructions of the National Assembly speaker, a sub-committee of the Special Committee on Agricultural Products held an emergency meeting at the Parliament House on Tuesday to suggest measures to minimise and stop the potential damage to crops from likely locust attacks.

The matter was referred to the committee on a point of order raised by MNA Nawab Muhammad Yusuf Talpur.

According to a statement, the federal minister and secretary for the ministry of National Food Security and Research, respectively, briefed the sub-committee on the locust attack phenomenon, ongoing efforts to tackle them, availability of pesticides, funding, airplanes for aerial sprays and hurdles to address the issue.

The panel was informed that no substantial crop damage had been reported during the current locust attack.

The meeting was informed that an invasion of locusts had taken place after 35 years. The secretary of ministry of national food security and research (MNFS&R), Hashim Popalzai, informed the meeting that the attack could not be entirely eliminated, but its intensity could be minimised through effective aerial and ground sprays.

The meeting was informed that pesticides worth Rs10 million had been purchased and arrangements with donors had been made to beef up the government efforts. The committee was further informed that locusts were now moving to their habitat in Balochistan.

The members of the committee stressed the need for launching an awareness campaign among farmers and the general public to reduce the intensity of the problem.

The members also underlined the need for using drones for anti-locust sprays.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2019