HYDERABAD: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) has urged the Sindh government to suspend recovery ofland revenue and water charges from growers as they have suffered heavy losses due to locust invasion on their crops and fields.

Speaking at a press conference in the SCA office here on Saturday, its president, Syed Miran Mohammad Shah, said locusts had been attacking eastern parts of the country since June last year.He recalled that the federal government had declared `national emergency` on Feb 1 and was supposed to protect crops and help farmers but this had not been followed in letter and spirit.

Referring to UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates and assessments pertaining to locusts` breading in the region in the past and the losses they had already caused, Mr Shah said that in their ongoing spree, the swarms could inflict as much losses.

`Our country is under the threat of an intense second invasion of desert locusts which may cause a further loss of Rs600bn toPakistan,` he said.

He pointed out that the pest had af fected maize, cotton, wheat and rice crops as well as mango and citrus orchards, besides devouring vegetables and fodder.

He said all districts, including Malir (Karachi), were affected by locust swarms and some of them, like Kandhkot-Kashmore, Khairpur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Dadu, Ghotki, Sanghar, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Matiari, were the worst-hit.

He said his organisation had been urging the federal and Sindh governments since March to take appropriatemeasures in this regard.

SCA approached Sindh government in March and April and also apprised the agriculture minister and secretary on May 6 of the aggravating situation, he said, adding that a detailed briefing was given to them and it was agreed that Sindh government would mobilise its resources.

However, nothing on ground had been seen so far.

`Growers are now compelled to hold protest,` he said, and announced that the protest would be started from Hyderabad on June 7 and then in all divisional headquarters. He said highwaysof Sindh would be blocked in the last week of June if situation did notimprove.

The SCA chief demanded aerial spray to be conducted on an emergency basis. `Ten planes are required for the operation in the areas along Sindh-Balochistan border as well as in Hyderabad division and Ghotki, Umerkot, Tharparkar, Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad and Khairpur districts,` he said.

He stressed that f ar mers should be saved f rom locust as this would ultimately help government save the country from famine, food insecurity and economic collapse.