Lack of aerial spraying increases locust and disease risk

The Pakistani Plant Protection Department (PPD) is unable to undertake any aerial crop spraying because all its aircraft have been grounded for technical reasons and shortage of funds. The spraying is needed to reduce the spread of Leishmeniasis and tackle a potential locust problem, according to officials. "Out of a total of 20 aircraft, only four were in operational condition. However, they have also been grounded for bureaucratic reasons," Syed Ghulam Raza Ja'afary, head of the Aerial Pest Control wing of the PPD, told IRIN from the southern port city of Karachi on Monday. The PPD fleet consists of a number of 50s era aircraft. Some are grounded because of a shortage of spare parts and others because of a lack of money. Central parts of the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh are now infested with sand flies that have been attacking crops. The flies are also responsible for more than 7,000 cases of Leishmeniasis in Sindh alone. The disease is reported to be rife in Balochistan according to Dr Sher Ahmed, a medical officer at the provincial branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Quetta, the Baluchi capital. Dr Ahmed told IRIN that the absence of any proper disease surveillance system in the province means the total number of cases is unknown. Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi, the Director-General of Health Services in Sindh province, has urged aerial spraying in Leishmeniasis-endemic parts of both provinces to eliminate the sand flies. Lack of ariel spraying is also increasing the risk of locust swarms which regularly devastate large areas of agricultural land in Pakistan. "Due to the recent widespread rains in breeding areas in Sindh, Punjab and the coastal belt of Balochistan, the locust population may increase massively with the warming up of the weather in coming months. To deal with the situation, it’s critical to keep the [aerial spraying] fleet operational, but we are facing a severe shortage of funds and are unable to conduct any spraying ," said the PPD official.