LAHORE - While locust attack is becoming a potential hazard, causing serious damage to crops in Sindh, the Sindh government’s response is somewhat sluggish to the rising challenge.
According to a private news network, the locust attack had sprawled over many districts of the province but the government was not using its resources optimally to handle the situation. According to the reports, an airplane owned by Agriculture Department Sindh, which was meant for crop dusting for the eradication of locust, was standing at the Sukkur airport for days. According to the network the locusts had laid eggs and the area had become a breeding ground for locust, while the situation was to worsen further as fresh swarms of locusts were approaching from Iran and Afghanistan.
When the department was contacted by the network, the officials of the department said that they were short of the pesticide required to spray on the fields to purge locust and that they had informed the government about its unavailability. They said that the plane could only be used for crop-dusting once the pesticide was made available