40 Locusts Crops Sprayers arrive from the UK on an UK military flight

Islamabad: 40 crop sprayers, manufactured by British company Micron Group – were delivered to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) from the UK Monday by the UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) to help Pakistan tackle the devastating locust outbreak.

These sprayers are part of a larger order made directly by the NDMA, underlining the close UK-Pakistan trading relationship. These are in addition to the 20 sprayers which were sent to Pakistan earlier under a £1m UK aid package to support the Government of Pakistan to tackle the national emergency.

The use of the British Military flight allowed the maximum number of sprayers to be delivered in the quickest time possible and without transportation costs for Pakistan.

The Acting British High Commissioner, Alison Blackburne said; “This is a great example of UK-Pakistan co-operation. The RAF’s delivery of these has meant that now Pakistan has 40 more locust sprayers from the UK to help tackle this locust outbreak. The UK stands as a close friend with Pakistan to help use the best of British technology to bring the situation under control and ensure the locusts do not ravage more crops.”

The sprayers were delivered from RAF Brize Norton, a military airbase in the UK. The flight will also deliver essential supplies for the UK Defence Section to continue to deliver critical Counter-IED Capacity Building to Pakistan in a long-running project which has saved numerous lives over the last five years.