Japan to provide 58,000 litres of insecticide to combat locust

NDMA chief says Pakistan wants to acquire modern machinery to eliminate hopper

ISLAMABAD: The Japanese government, in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and some private firms, would provide insecticide to Pakistan to support its fight against the desert locust’s attacks, the Japanese embassy announced on Tuesday.

The embassy said in a statement that CWS-Japan, an NGO, would hand over 58,000 litres of insecticide “Lambda Cyhalothrine” to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) this month. besides, it would also extend support to Pakistani farmers, who had been affected by the locust invasion.

In this regard, Japanese Ambassador Matsuda Kuninori met NDMA Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal on Tuesday and expressed Japan’s commitment to support Pakistan and its people in their efforts to minimise the damage caused by desert locust.

Matsuda said that in the midst of coronavirus pandemic, it was imperative to successfully control the locust infestation in order to secure the livelihood and food security of the vulnerable communities of Pakistan.



“Realising the seriousness of the issue and in light of a long-standing friendship between our two countries, the government of Japan, along with CWS-Japan, will support the people of Pakistan especially the farmer’s community battling against desert locust swarms, he said.

Operation continues

The NDMA chairman thanked the Japanese government for its cooperation with Pakistan in difficult times. He said that along with locust attack and the virus pandemic, floods were also expected in the monsoon season. “Pakistan wants to acquire modern machinery for locust attack,” he added.

Pakistan is facing the worst locust attack in many decades. The government had deployed more than 1,100 teams of army and agriculture and food security departments for anti-locust operation in 49 affected districts of the country.

According to the data released by the National Locust Control Centre, on Tuesday, these teams had so far, surveyed an area of about 27 million hectares, while a control operation had been carried out in an area of about 538,000 hectares.

In the last 24 hours, the data said, an area of 75,000 hectares was surveyed in Punjab, 50,207 hectares in Sindh, 67,965 hectares in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 110,602 hectares in Balochistan. It added that aerial spraying was also being conducted with the help of airplanes and helicopters.