The first batch of locust control supplies aided by China reached Karachi, Pakistan on March 9, 2020. The supplies include 50,000 liters of malathion and 14 air-powered high-efficiency remote sprayers, and were sent by a chartered cargo plane from Pudong Airport in Shanghai.   

China’ aid is a follow-up of a field study conducted in the locust affected areas in Pakistan during Feb. 23 to March 5, 2020 by a Chinese team of experts sent by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China. The Chinese team has made a comprehensive locust control plan with their Pakistani counterparts after field study. Under the aid plan reached between China and Pakistan, China will send two additional consignments – including 250 tons of malathion and 36 air-powered high-efficiency remote sprayers – to Pakistan by the end of April to counter locust plague.  

It is said that the MARA will also send a working team to East Africa in mid-March for field study on local locust plague. The Chinese team will work out a locust control plan with African counterparts.