Former chairman of the FPCCI standing committee on horticulture and BMP secretary-general (Federal), Ahmad Jawad, has called upon the government to raise the issue of locust threat across the country in the meetings of National Coordination Committee and National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) for better coordination to get rid of this huge threat to the agriculture sector.
According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates, losses to agriculture from locusts this year could be as high as Rs353 billion ($2.2 billion) for winter crops and about Rs464 billion for summer crops.
The Sindh government also apprehends new attack of locust in some of its districts.
The farmers feared a drought-like situation if proper attention was not paid to it as the locust would devour all greenery in the area, which depends on farming.
He demanded of the government to announce an agriculture emergency for at least a year, and all decisions should be taken at NCOC and NCC forums so that similar efforts may be seen in all provinces for resolving the issue of locust.
He said that agriculture was contributing well with a growth of 2.7 percent in this fiscal year which would help the economy to some extent.
He said he hoped the Prime Minister's Advisor on Finance would give priority to the agriculture sector in his budget speech next month. Without agriculture it's now proven that our economy cannot take off.
According to the National Accounts Committee, witnessing a 0.6 percent growth rate in the last fiscal year, the agricultural sector grew this time by 2.7 percent, but the government missed all its sub-sector targets except forestry and other crops.