ISLAMABAD: A group of Chinese experts on locust control visited Chilghazi in locust affected province of Balochistan and held talks with Chilghazi tribal elders.
Chinese Consul General in Karachi Li Bijian, Vice Consul Lin Min and Third Secretary Zhang Lin attended the meeting that discussed plan of the field survey, reports Gwadar Pro App. Welcoming the Chinese experts, the tribal elders expressed their deep sympathy and strong support for China’s efforts to fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic on behalf of the local people, and added that they would organize religious persons to pray for people participating in the coronavirus battle, hoping that China would obtain a full victory in the epidemic fight soon.
The tribal elders also thanked China for sending a delegation in time to help Balochistan cope with the locust disaster. Before lunch, Chinese experts took a helicopter to Tobuk desert in Darbantin to collect locust samples on site and exchange locust control plans with local agricultural experts.
On the occasion, Chinese experts expressed their appreciation for the work done by Balochistan province in responding to the locust disaster and said that they would further improve the assistance and support program for the province based on the results of the field survey, so as to help it counter the desert locust swarm attacks.
The locust swarms have affected around 30 million acres of land in the country during the last nine months out of which only 300,000 were sprayed. Following the locust attacks in the provinces of eastern Punjab, southwest Balochistan and northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Prime Minister Imran Khan declared a national emergency on locust control earlier this month and asked the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to seek help from China.
According the Chinese diplomats, the Chinese government attached great importance to the national emergency on locust in Pakistan and sent a high-level working group on an urgent basis to help analyze the situation so as to formulate a strategy. The Chinese experts arrived in Pakistan last week to extend a helping hand to tackle the country’s locust plague, which is threatening the South Asian nation’s food security.
