$200m World Bank aid likely to help Pakistan fight locusts

The World Bank's executive board will later this month approve assistance worth $200 million to help Pakistan control locust swarms, restore livelihoods in affected areas, and strengthen the country's food security monitoring and management system.

Out of the total project cost of $200m, $125m will be financed from the regional International Development Association (IDA), according to the project document.

This would be the World Bank's first agriculture project in Pakistan to work directly at the federal level with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research since 2010 when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution devolved agriculture and rural affairs to provinces.

The project is selected for emergency response financing because Pakistan's food security and sustainability of the agriculture sector is in jeopardy. Desert locust breeding and hatching are progressing at an alarming rate in Pakistan, which carries important regional implications.

According to Food and Argricultre Organistaion, Pakistan is an important front-line country for the desert locust control given its two breeding seasons.

Document says funding will strengthen national food security monitoring and management system

Successfully controlling the locust outbreak in Pakistan will bring significant public goods to the South Asia region, which provides strong justification for mobilising regional IDA funding. Given the locust spread across South Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan is an indispensable part of the global effort to combat the existing locust crisis.

The locust spread is reaching an alarming level in Pakistan and the crisis is compounded by the Covid19 pandemic. The component of the World Bank assisted project will be implemented across Pakistan, with a focus on provinces and districts under acute locust attack. Overall, 38 per cent of the country's geographic area is breeding area for desert locust, while the rest of the country is at the risk of invasion.

According to the government estimate, in the worst-case scenario the agricultural loss could reach over $15 billion, including both rabi and kharif crops. This is a significant risk in Pakistan, where about 20pc of the population (around 40m people) is undernourished, 40pc of the population experience multidimensional poverty, and 25pc of the population is living under the national poverty line.

Without urgent and effective actions to control the crisis, the food security situation and the prospects of agricultural development will deteriorate at a time when the country is under a health pandemic. The newest generations of locusts are emerging at the same time as the new season's crops and experts fear that up to 100pc of new crops could be lost, the World Bank document reveals.

The impact of the locust outbreak, together with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, calls for a strengthened Food Security and Nutrition Information System (FSNIS) in Pakistan. This system will build and strengthen the ministry's in-house capacity to undertake timely analysis for high quality decision-making. Strengthening the system is consistent with the recommendations made by the prime minister's committee in early 2020. Currently, neither the federal government nor provincial governments have a well-functioning system to monitor the food