ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has cautioned Pakistan about a possible locust attack during March and April next year, it is learnt.

Sources in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) said the locust attack was a sort of pest plague that could damage crops, fruits and even trees. Pakistan's major crop - wheat ripes in March to April alongside other Rabi crops.

"There is no specific forecast about its intensity in Pakistan but generally the plague is one of the most dreaded phenomenon for the agriculture sector," an official said.

"We have been put on alert (about the locust attack) because it can destroy any standing crop," Minfal Secretary M. Ismail Qureshi confirmed. He asserted that Pakistan was well prepared to counter it but "we are not going to be complacent and hence trying to achieve a state of full-preparedness."

A source at the Minfal said the ministry had informed the federal government about the FAO forecast and had sought an amount of $0.96 million for repairs of eight Cessna aircraft and Rs22 million for duty and taxes and import of initial pesticides to counter the attack.

The source said the aerial wing of the Department of Plant Protection, an attached department of Minfal, had to be in full state of preparedness to meet any such eventuality.

The recent meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet also discussed the situation recently and agreed to provide maximum support to Minfal in this regard.

However, the participants noted that the amount of $0.96 million demanded for repairs of eight Cessna aircraft was too high since the price of one such aircraft in quite good condition in the market was around $0.1 million and hence such a high cost should not be paid for repair of aircraft.

The ministry of finance was, therefore, directed to further examine the funds required for countering the locust attack and suggest some alternative options as well and resubmit the case to the ECC.

Mr Qureshi said West Africa was the breeding ground of the pest and its route to this region was through Saudi Arabia which was very well prepared and the pest could not escape from there.

He said the threat to Pakistan was there but it was not much alarming. He said previously it hit Pakistan in early 1990s but could not cause major damage to crops. However, it badly damaged Pakistan's crops in the 1960s and 1970's, he said.

The plague that originated from Africa a few months ago has already hit some countries of the Middle East. In this attack, the swarming insects could turn fields to stubble in a few minutes.

The source said Pakistan had enough time at its disposal to fully prepare itself for averting a major damage to the crops and trees and said a timely spray of pesticides just before the attack could control and prevent the pest from spreading.

These sources said the locust pest was as old as the known human history and breaks out every few years in warm weathers. Mr Qureshi said that Pakistan had a fully-fledged fleet at the department of plant protection to counter the threat and pesticides stocks were being replenished.