KARACHI: In order to provide technical assistance and equipment to fight locusts in the country, China is there to help Pakistan get rid of the locust swarms that pose a serious threat to agriculture.

At a press conference at a hotel, Chinese experts along with Consul General Li Bijan spoke about the situation created by the swarms of locusts in various regions of Pakistan.

They said 30 million hectares of land was affected by locusts in Pakistan of which 900,000 hectares were surveyed.

The Chinese team had returned to Karachi after visiting Thar, one of the most affected regions.

The Chinese experts met the relevant government officials and spoke about the issue in detail to get updated about the current situation in Sindh.

The team was scheduled to leave for Balochistan and Punjab later.

The Chinese experts advised the government to strengthen its surveys further, saying that locust swarms could severely damage crops that could result in food scarcity in the country.

Wang Fengle, who headed the delegation, spoke about their visit to Thar to gauge the gravity of the situation.

He said the visit was carried out to plan for an emergency response to control deadly swarms with sustainable mechanism.

The reporters were informed that the Chinese government would provide 50 vehicles that would spray 16,000 hectares per day, 50 units of drones would be provided that would spray and monitor 1,333 hectares per hour while aircraft would also be provided as the overall package was finalised.

They said a vast area of the country was yet to be surveyed; thus, they could be able to provide total value of the package after the whole country was surveyed.

Mr Fengle said his team would work with the federal government’s plant protection department and other experts to control locusts as well as take steps to prevent its recurrence.

The Chinese experts said locust was sensitive to temperature and rainfall; and it could affect wheat and maize crops and eat up leaves of citrus fruits.

Li Bijan said the Chinese government had sent the team of its experts to fight the crisis on the request of the government of Pakistan.

He said at the time when China was fighting an epidemic, Pak­istan was fighting with a crisis.

Replying to a question vis-à-vis coronavirus, the Chinese diplomat said coronavirus was a threat to the whole world and China was fighting against it with all its energies.

He said the virus was curable and controllable and scientists in China were working hard to prepare a vaccine for it.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2020