Govt spends Rs 3bn to control locust: NA told

ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Food Security and Research Muhammad Ameer Sultan Monday informed the National Assembly that the government had spent Rs 3 billion to control locust in the country.

Responding to a question during question hour, he said that Rs one billion had been provided by the federal government while Rs 2 billion had been given by the Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab provinces to control the locust.

He said that no major loss had been reported in the country due to locust attack as effective and timely measures had been taken by the government.

He said that three helicopters of Pakistan Air Force with special fitting were used for aerial spraying of medicines to control the locust.

Ameer Sultan said that dialogue was underway with Turkey to take aircrafts on lease to use to eliminate the locust if it attacked again.

“No significant loss to agricultural crops is reported by any Provincial government due to locust attack so far. However, partial damages to few crops were reported by farmers through NLCC in few districts, ” he added.

As a result of effective management, the locust had been eliminated from all 62 affected districts and at present Pakistan was free from locust.

He said Locust Emergency and Food Security project was prepared in consultation with all the stakeholders and got approved from ECNEC.