- Locusts destroy crops
Now that the federal government has declared the locust attack in the country a national emergency, only after the crisis made its way to Punjab and KP, it is necessary to ask why the declaration had not been made earlier when the crop-ravaging insects first started flying into Sindh in June, to multiply gradually and turn into a full-blown catastrophe for the province. The Sindh government had made repeated requests for support from the centre to get a hold of the situation but to no avail. Earlier this month, during a National Assembly debate on the matter, where the newly appointed Minister for Food Security Khusro Bakhtiar was conveniently absent, PPP MNAs Syed Naveed Qamar and Ghulam Ali Talpur explained how quickly the locusts had spread across over 12 districts of Sindh, forcing farmers to burn their crops and that there was risk of them spreading towards the North. That prediction came true within weeks as multiple districts in Punjab and KP are also now affected. The government’s inaction on the matter displays its incompetence and a worrying tendency to not dispense federal resources to provinces where it isn’t in power. The Prime Minister is willing to host a stubborn and noncompliant Sindh Police IG at his office in Islamabad to ‘hear him out’, because it suits his government politically but he will not take an issue as serious as risk to food security into consideration unless it hits home.
There has to be a collective effort to get rid of this menace. The NDMA and provincial governments must act swiftly and timely in order to contain the situation before it ruins crops in all three major provinces and creates a food shortage, forcing imports that the country does not afford. Equipment shortcomings such as a lack of planes to airdrop pesticide, should be fulfilled with the help of the military if need be. One hopes the situation does not deteriorate further. Unfortunately, with this government, that is always a risk.
