locust attack in India and Pakistan challenge will locust attack FAO food security Balochistan

locust attack in India and Pakistan challenge will be locust attack FAO 2020 food security Balochistan After COVID-19,India's next challenge will be locust attack in India 2020 FAO warn ind and Pakistan Punjab: Locust swarms spotted in Fazilka locusts were spotted in a few border villages. These were also controlledusing sprays.fao warned India. #locustattack #टिड्डी #tiddi #grasshoppers #tiddiattackpakistanindia After COVID-19, India’s next challenge will be mega-sized locust attack this summer Food and Agriculture Organisation, a one square kilometre of locust swarm, containing about 40 million locusts, can in a day eat as much food as 35,000 people. This Feb. 21, 2020 file photo shows swarm of desert locusts over a ranch near the town of Nanyuki in Laikipia county, Kenya. The destructive power of a typical locust swarm, which can vary from less than one square kilometre to several hundred square kilometres, is enormous, says the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on its website. A one square kilometre swarm, containing about 40 million locusts, can in a day eat as much food as 35,000 people, assuming that each individual consumes 2.3 kg of food per day. An FAO situation update of April 21 paints a grim picture. It spotlights that desert locusts, which are breeding this spring in East Africa, Yemen and southern Iran, will gravely heighten the threat to food security in the Afro-Asian region. Locust attack threatens food security in Pakistan, South Asia As FAO warns of major blow to food supply, farmers say locusts are already gobbling up their crops and swarms gather to sweep across the region Locust attack threatens food security in Pakistan, South Asia As FAO warns of major blow to food supply, farmers say locusts are already gobbling up their crops and swarms gather to sweep across the region  (नेपाली) पूर्वी पाकिस्तानको पन्जाब प्रदेशको ओकरा जिल्लामा एउटा सलह देखाउँदै कृषक । देशका केही भूभागमा सलह आक्रमणका कारण कृषकहरूले भारी आर्थिक क्षति बेहोर्नु परेको छ । (फोटोः एसटीआर / सिन्ह्वा / अलामी लाइभ न्यूज In south western Balochistan, one of the remotest parts of Pakistan, desert locusts are busy eating crops. According to residents of Garang, a poor, sparsely populated village in Washuk district which lies a few hundred kilometres from Iran, hopper bands of the Schistocerca gregaria — commonly known as the desert locust — are growing by the day. “Slowly and gradually, these locusts are eating away at everything in cultivated lands. Now, they are moving towards other fields in nearby villages,” a farmer, Maulvi Satar Baloch, told thethirdpole.net. In the neighbouring Kharan district, which has patches of green and cultivated lands, the situation is similar. Locusts are thriving on vegetation and eating everything green they can find, despite the spraying of pesticide. This year’s locust infestation is a continuation of 2019’s outbreak in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and South Asia, which is said to be the worst in decades. As farmers described an unprecedented presence of the insatiable pests, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned of a serious infestation that can lead to a major threat to food security. In a report prepared this week for Pakistan, the FAO has warned of a locust invasion. “Iran and Pakistan are especially prone as locust breeding is taking place in these areas, also due to the wet winter this year. In Pakistan, 38% of the area [60% in Balochistan, 25% in Sindh and 15% in Punjab] are breeding grounds for the desert locust, whereas the entire country is under the threat of invasion if the desert locust is not contained in the breeding regions.” These locusts are voracious eaters. At anywhere between 10 mm and 70 mm in size, depending on their growth cycle, an adult locust can eat its own weight in food every day — about two grams of fresh vegetation. They thrive in areas where rainfall and green vegetation are aplenty and breed rapidly to swell into havoc-wreaking swarms. Blow to food supply To give an idea of the scale of the destruction these pests can unleash, the report’s worst-case forecast predicted “severe damage” in areas where major rabi (winter-sown) crops like wheat, chickpea and oilseeds grow. Losses to agriculture could reach PKR 205 billion [USD 1.3 billion], considering a damage level of 15% to the production of wheat, gram and potato alone. At a 25% level of damage, the FAO estimates total potential losses of about PKR 353 billion for the rabi crops, and about PKR 464 billion for kharif (summer-sown) crops. “In the midst of additional impacts by Covid-19 on health, livelihoods and food security and nutrition of the most vulnerable communities and populations of Pakistan, it is imperative to contain and control successfully the Desert Locust infestation,” it said. Cross-border swarms foraging for food Mubarik Ahmed, Pakistan’s national coordinator for locust control and.