Pakistan's government declared a national emergency on Saturday in response to swarms of desert locusts in the eastern part of the country.

Prime Minister Imran Khan made the emergency declaration following a government briefing on the situation on Friday.

"We are facing the worst locust infestation in more than two decades and have decided to declare national emergency to deal with the threat," Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Saturday.

The desert locusts — large herbivores that resemble grasshoppers — arrived in Pakistan from Iran in June and have already ravaged cotton, wheat, maize and other crops.

Read more: East Africa: Why are locusts so destructive?

Favorable weather conditions and a delayed government response have helped the locusts breed and attack crop areas.

Their potential for large-scale destruction is raising fears of food insecurity.

National Food Security Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bak­h­tiar said the locust swarms were currently on the Pakistan-India border around Cholistan and were previously in Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.

"The locust attack is unprecedented and alarming," Bak­h­tiar told Pakistani lawmakers in a briefing on Friday.

"Action has been taken against the insect over 0.3 million acres (121,400 hectares) and aerial spray was done on 20,000 hectares," he was quoted as saying by Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune. "District administrations, voluntary organizations, aviation division and armed forces are put into operation to combat the attack and save the crops," he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan pledged to tackle the issue, adding that protection of agriculture and farmers was the government's priority.

"The federal government will take all possible steps and provide required facilities to protect crops from any possible danger with special focus on the danger of locust," Khan said, according to Dawn.

The last time Pakistan saw a serious threat of locusts was in 1993. Currently, locust swarms are affecting neighboring India and countries in East Africa.

Tiny bugs with destructive powers Tiny but powerful Bark beetles, which reproduce in inner tree bark, have a killer reputation. And while some species of the bug do attack healthy trunks, they generally go for trees that are already diseased, dying or weak. Their role in forest ecology is a hotly contested issue, with some saying they provide an invaluable service and others insisting they are havoc-wreaking pests.

Tiny bugs with destructive powers Fake fall The horse chestnut leaf miner (Cameraria ohridella) takes its name from the trees it discolors. First observed in northern Greece in the mid eighties, it has since spread to other parts of Europe. Its larvae mine the leaves causing them to turn brown and drop before autumn takes its toll on other tree species. But the damage is not lasting. Come spring, they burst back into green life.

Tiny bugs with destructive powers Danger in numbers The damage caused by plagues of locusts is well documented. Desert locusts in particular can swarm into groups of between 40 and 80 million creatures, devastating crops intended for human consumption. Capable of eating their own weight each day, a swarm as large as the one mentioned above, could devour more than 190 million kilos of plants on a daily basis.

Tiny bugs with destructive powers The holy snail trail With their long eyes and neat architectural design, a lot of people find snails cute and endearing. Not so farmers. These slimy little - and sometimes big - creatures are big eaters and will happily chomp their way through crops, such as lettuces, cabbage and broccoli leaving a trail of holes in their wake. Or in the case of smaller plants, tearing them to shreds.

Tiny bugs with destructive powers Short, but busy lives Like so many pests, pea aphids take their name from their victim of choice. Which in this case means peas, though they also have a predeliction for clover and alfalfa. A mere 4 mm in length and only of this world for some 12 days, they suck the juice from their "host" plants, and are capable of killing them in the process. Oh and BTW: females can produce as many as 100 nymphs in their short lives.

Tiny bugs with destructive powers Terrible termites Termites are more or less synomymous with mounds of earth and unsafe wooden constructions, but they also have a weakness for some plants - most notably maize. They hollow out the roots and base of the plant, first causing it to wilt, but in some cases later, to die. They also affect both tea and coffee plants, African palm oil, rubber and sugarcane. A varied appetite with a destructive outcome.

Tiny bugs with destructive powers Bad for bees Varroa mites are bad news for honey bees and can wipe out entire colonies. As parasites, they attach themselves to the bee's body and then suck out their host's bodily fluid, thereby weakening their immune systems and rendering them vulnerable to disease. The impact is not only bad for the bees themselves, but for crop pollination.



Somalia declares 'national emergency'

On Sunday, Somalia declared its locust infestation a national emergency. The locust invasion has swept over the Horn of Africa, devastating crops in one of the most vulnerable regions in the world.

"The Ministry of Agriculture... has declared a national emergency in view of the current desert locust upsurge, that poses a major threat to Somalia's fragile food security situation," the ministry statement read. "Food sources for people and their livestock are at risk," the statement warned.

The locusts have caused major agricultural destruction and hunger.

"Given the severity of this desert locust outbreak, we must commit our best efforts to protect the food security and livelihoods of Somali people," said Minister of Agriculture Said Hussein. "If we don't act now, we risk a severe food crisis that we cannot afford."