Locust breeding has been started in Tharparkar and Cholistan.This was stated by Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research,Syed Fakhar Imam while chairing the meeting of National Locusts Controle Centre(NLCC) on Friday.Lieutenant General Moazzam Ejaz,Coordinator NLCC also co chaired the meeting.The briefing was started with FAO locust forecast.As per the forecast,summer breeding has commenced along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border where numerous swarms are present mainly in Rajasthan, India. Hatching and band formation will increase during this month in Rajasthan and northern Gujarat, India as well as adjacent areas of Tharparkar, Nara and Cholistan deserts in Pakistan.New reports of Desert Locust swarms further east in northern Somalia suggest that migration from northeast Somalia across the Indian Ocean to the summer breeding areas along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border could be imminent. More swarms are likely to form in northern Somalia in the coming weeks. India and Pakistan have been warned accordingly and they continue to take preparatory Pakistan Meteorological Department mentioned that there are seasonal low lies over western Balochistan. Moist currents are penetrating upper and central parts of the country from Bay of Bengal. More monsoon currents are likely to penetrate in upper and central parts of the country from Sunday.Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MOFA) mentioned that Saudia Arabia and Kenya are interested in exchange of information on locusts bilaterally.NLCC has also developed rate integration map,which is shared with all provinces daily.It was also discussed during meeting that there is a dire need to generate large scale provincial maps to include tehsil level migration forecast. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mentioned that since 2nd of July there no locusts activity in the province.In last 24 hours 171911 acres has been surveyed.Balochistan mentioned that the province hasworked really hard in eliminating locust.In last 24 hours 22 districts were found with locust,resultantly on 222 acres operation was done.Punjab mentioned that in last 24 hours survey was done on 260516 acres and no locust was found.Teams are working in Cholistan.Apart from this,teams are also working in Pak Pattan and Lodhran.Sindh mentioned that in last 24 hours survey was done on 94807 acres.Teams are working in Tharparkar and Nara desert. DPP also shared guidelines for survey and control operation with the provinces.The survey method includes foot transect, vehicle transect and aerial transect.GPS corner areas must be treated.Survey data and observations can be entered into a custom handheld datalogger called eLocust3 or they can be written down on Standard Survey/Control form. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ?
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