Updated 9 March 2020 at 17:23 IST
Pakistan to sketch anti-locust plan via video conference with 3 countries
Pakistan, India, Iran and Afghanistan are set to chalk out an anti locust plan on March 11.This comes as the entire region was hit by massive invasion recently.
Pakistan, India, Iran and Afghanistan are set to chalk out an anti-locust plan on March 11, a news agency reported. This comes as the entire region was hit by a massive locust invasion which is reportedly the worst in nearly three decades. Scientists have said that the recent locust outbreak might be due to the extended period of monsoon rains across the region and frequent cyclones in the Indian ocean, international media reported.
The agriculture ministers of all the four Asian nations would attend a video conference meeting on March 11 to decide upon a strategy to deal with the situation, the news agency reported. In addition to the aforementioned lawmakers, representatives of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will also participate in the meeting from Abu Dhabi via a video link.
China might face the invasion
The Chinese government body has reportedly warned that it could face a desert locust invasion itself. According to an international media outlet, China's National Forestry and Grassland Administrations urged local authorities to prepare for the possible arrival of the voracious insects from neighbouring Pakistan and India. According to FAO officials, locusts are the oldest migratory posts in the world and could reproduce twenty folds within three months. They added that only one square kilometre could contain up to 80 million adults pests.
According to a statement on China's National Forestry website, the risk of swarms entering the country is low, however, China will be hampered in tracking the locusts by a lack of monitoring techniques and little knowledge of migration patterns. Further, the statement read that the locust swarms could enter the Tibet region from Pakistan and India or the southwestern province of Yunnan through Myanmar. There is also a possibility that that swarms could fly across Kazakhstan and into China's western Xinjiang region.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published By : Riya Baibhawi
Published On: 9 March 2020 at 17:23 IST