A flock of thousands of locusts attacked fields in multiple parts of Sindh and Balochistan Saturday afternoon. The insects attacked fields of cotton, sugarcane, corn, apples, grapes and multiple other fruits and vegetables in Khairpur, Khanpur and Dadu.

The only weapon farmers had to defend their fields was drumming with steel utensils.

On the other hand, Balochistan’s Qila Abdullah, Chaman, Harnai and Pishin were attacked by swarms of locusts too.

Harvesters have warned that if the government does not promptly take action against these insects, it can affect the agriculture industry severely leading to a food shortage across the country.

Additionally, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam has said that another locust attack is expected to hit the country through Oman, Africa and Iran.

“Internationally, all those people who have expertise over this matter, we will collaborate with them and take on this issue as a national cause,” he said at a meeting of the National Locusts Control Centre.

The National Disaster Management Authority has set up a hotline 051-111-222-999 to register complaints of locust attacks.