“When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions” wrote Shakespeare in his play, Hamlet. In a year already ravaged by a pandemic and now battling a cross-continental locust invasion that may put global food security at risk, the great playwright’s observation does not appear to be too wide off the mark.
Posterity will determine whether 2020 has simply been a year of epic misfortune, or culmination of years of environmental and scientific neglect by global leadership. While it has now become painfully obvious that the pandemic may take up to two years to pale into the sunset (whether by development of a vaccine or herd immunity), it is yet unclear how long the locust infestation may take to subside.
It is, of course, not the first time that world is battling a swarm of inter-continental pest plague; but it has been at least over half a century since the world dealt with a crisis on this scale. And while some may be quick to attribute the malice to climate change, it may be useful to remember that in geological and evolutionary terms, a plague of “biblical proportions” means even 100 years is not nearly long enough to blame climate entirely.
According to New York Times archives from February 1979, “a major plague of desert locusts that could destroy vegetation across a broad swath of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and India and Pakistan” was successfully thwarted by an international locust control effort by UN-FAO and local institutional capacity developed under colonial rule.
Because generations have passed since the last global locust crisis, it appears that the white man’s burden has waned, as has the institutional memory in countries of the global South. In Pakistan, for example, the Locust Control office under the Plant Protection department has been defunct for several years, as federal and provincial governments lock horns over jurisdiction (Read “Plant Protection, read the Constitution” by BR Research, published on May 06, 2020).
What has become obvious, however, is that the challenge does not only require coordination at inter-provincial level, but in fact, at regional level. The Indo-Pak rivalry, where electronic media in the neighbouring country has blamed Pakistan for the infestation crossing over border, is certainly not helping - as if pests require visas to travel.
In this respect, the establishment of National Locust Control Centre in Rawalpindi is a very welcome development, even as the federal government has yet again failed to even maintain the pretence of optics. Moreover, while Plant Protection under ordinary circumstance may indeed be a provincial subject as indicated by the lead role played by Extension departments in early days, these are no longer ordinary times.
Thus, it is also welcome that the crisis centre at national level is being led by National Disaster Management Authority, as imposition of national emergency must not step on the toes of provincial autonomy. Moreover, as Aamer Hayat Bhandara, a progressive farmer from Pakpattan, points out that the federal government has made itself responsible for national food security, which is what is at stake if provinces are left to their own devices to deal with a pest that does not respect geographical borders.
However, even mobilization of all governmental aerial machinery may be insufficient to handle the infestation. For one, FAO predicts that the swarms seen so far are only a preview of the next wave which is expected to unleash itself come monsoon in Jul-Aug. And second, no amount of national-level strategy may work without undertaking micro-, village level interventions.
For example, instead of relying on aerial sprays by planes alone, national leadership must fight its demons against allowing civilian use of drones. Cheap, and inexpensive technology can be made readily available to growers commercially that uses Ultra-low volume sprays using drones. And while provincial and district level Disaster Management departments are being sorely missed, there is not enough time to develop their capacity before the second wave strikes next month.
The PM often keeps reminding the nation of exchequer’s limited resources. Instead of concentrating all responsibility, it must take the real stakeholders on board and allow them to fight back. Afterall, it is the farming community that has its skin in the game and is at the greatest risk of economic loss. Review strategy before it’s too late!
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