Favourable weather conditions, the impotency of Pakistan to take preventive steps and the blooming locust population in the middle east and Africa, could be the reason why India is facing the worst locust attack in 26 years. While the Indian authorities say that the incursion of the locust is likely to stay, the containment of locust has already begun.
"As part of the containment, over 4 lakh hectare of the area has already been cleared, and the continuous monitoring of the pests is being carried out at the District Magistrate level. Furthermore, a number of teams and vehicles to kill the locusts have been deployed," said a senior official in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare.
Locusts are insects that travel in large swarms, can travel up to 150 kilometres in a day depending on the wind speed. Locust swarms devastate crops and cause major agricultural damage, which can lead to famine and starvation. The locusts are known for feasting on all sorts of plants and standing crops. Locusts devour leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark and growing points, and also destroy plants by their sheer weight as they descend on them in massive numbers.
A small swarm of the desert locust eats on an average as much food in one day as about 10 elephants, 25 camels, or 2,500 people. But swarms are not always small.
It has also been further planned by the ministry is to deploy drones and aerial spraying of the pesticides to combat the lastest problem being faced by India. However, the officials have also added that the problem is unlikely to go anywhere. As per the data, India has witnessed multiple waves of incursions, while in the past the locust would enter India during pre-monsoon and stay till November, but over the past two years, things seem to have changed.
However, these swarm of locusts attack are no new to India, since 1993 it had localised to Rajasthan. But this time, favourable weather conditions have facilitated locusts' travel from Rajasthan to Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and even Maharashtra.
Last year the onset of locust began on May 21 and continued till February 17 this year. But what's even more worrisome is that the onset began on April 11 this year.
"In April we found 'Hoppers' or the infant locusts at the Pakistan bordering areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. But based on inputs by the BSF, we were able to terminate them immediately, given the fact that they couldn't fly," an official added.
He added that the problem began from April 30 onwards, when the pink locusts which are young or in adolescent age, entered India.
"What we are facing is the first wave of locust incursion, but we have already managed to contain it. However, with Pakistan completely failing to tackle the issue of locust, it is likely that the waves will continue, but farmers have nothing to fear as the next wave will be of the adult locust and will be terminated immediately upon arrival at the border itself," said another official.
An adult locust looks for soft and moist sand as a breeding site and usually lays eggs 10 cm inside the sand. It is usually here, that the authorities spray the chemicals and terminate the crop threatening pest. To give you a perspective, one square kilometre of a farm can contain anywhere between 4 to 8 crore locusts, making their termination quite a task for the authorities.
The officials in the Agricultural Ministry also told that while locust can travel up to 150-200 km per day, the problem lies in containing them in residential areas or areas where cattle and animals are in large number.
"The locust which is being seen in parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, where it wasn't seen before, is in small batches and we have already formed additional teams to combat them," said an official.
The official also added that India's attempt of successfully containing and terminating the locust has been appreciated at the International level.
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