First lot of pesticides to control locust attack reached Pakistan: Ambassador

ISLAMABAD, Mar 12 (APP):First lot of pesticides from China to control locust attack has raced Pakistan and more pesticides with spray machines will reach during next month to overcome the menace of pest outbreak which had damaged standing crops over thousands of hectares.

This was stated by Ambassador of China Yao Jing who called on Minister for National Food Security and Research Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar here on Thursday.

The ambassador further informed that a team of technicians from china would soon visit Pakistan to provide operational training to local human resource to mitigate the challenge of locust attack.

The ambassador said that Chinese Government would also offered Pakistan more surveillance devices and drones to monitoring and management of locust issue, said a press release.

The Chinese Ambassador appreciated the role of Khusro Bakhtiar for his dedicated efforts of giving new impetus to agricultural cooperation under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He said that in the upcoming visit of President of Pakistan, memorandum of understanding on agriculture corporation between the two countries would further strengthen the bilateral coordination especially in locust control.

Speaking on the occasion, Khusro Bakhtiar informed the Chinese ambassador that Pakistan was stretched with sprayers’ machines as only one british company was manufacturing it and the demand for sprayers were increasing.

He stressed that there was a need for concrete data from Food and Agriculture Organization regarding the locust affected regions so that new companies might come in market owing to the required market demand of these pesticide sprayers.

The minister also acknowledged the timely supply of pesticides and coordination form Chinese Government and said that Pakistan’s preparedness level to tackle menace of locust was better that Afghanistan and Iran.

Meanwhile, Secretary National Food Security and Research Dr Muhammad Hashim Popalzai said that we required both vehicle driven and hand held pesticide sprayers.