Pakistan goes to war with locusts; Imran Khan wants to 'catch them & sell as chicken feed'

Amid Coronavirus pandemic, India and Pakistan are battling ar crisis which is  worst locust attack countries have faced in nearly three deces. According to Pakistan media reports, Imran Khan's government has endorsed a plan to help tackle country's locust plague by encouraging people to catch voracious pests and sell m as chicken feed.

'Out-of--box proposal'

A report in Dawn newspaper said PM Imran Khan while chairing a meeting of federal cabinet on Tuesday, endorsed an "out-of--box proposal" for dealing with locust threat in country under which people would be given financial incentives for catching locusts and encourd to sell se insects to poultry farmers who could use m as poultry feed at a rate of Rs15 per kilogram.

Pakistan is facing its worst locust infestation in a generation as marauding swarms have caused widespre dam in Middle East, East Africa and South Asia. United Nations has warned that fresh swarms are on ir way from Iran or East Africa. Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz told Dawn that Khan “wanted to turn crisis into an opportunity, refore, he approved a plan of catching and selling locusts”.

report also states that Khan was apprised that recently plan of catching and selling locusts for Rs 15 per kg was implemented in Okara. According to PTV, locust swarms have attacked 31 districts in Baluchistan, 10 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four in Punjab and seven in Sindh.

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Meanwhile, Imran Khan has also asked Ministers Fakhar Imam, Hamm Azhar and Khusro Bakhtiar as to how people would be given financial incentives for catching locusts. Poultry feed is rmally me from mashed soya beans, but locusts provide a far higher level of protein.

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In India, Central government has devised a plan to use drones and specialised imported machines against locusts which have started damaging crops in some states, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Tuesday.

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He said government is hopeful of completely repulsing attacks by locusts by September-end. "A plan is put in place to use drones to fight off locusts which are damaging crops in some parts of country," Tomar said, ding that pesticides will be sprayed using drones. " Central and state governments have saved crops spre over an area of 57,000 hectares in country from locusts," he ded.

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(With PTI inputs)