Locusts damage over 1100 hectares of crops in Nepal

Kathmandu: Locusts that entered Nepal from India last week have damaged over 1100 hectares of crops in the country. According to the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Centre (PQPMC) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the attack by swarms of locusts has resulted in crop damage of 1,118 hectares of land.

“Though the damage is considerably low, the locusts have dominantly damaged crops of five districts in Nepal,” said Ram Krishna Subedi, coordinator at the Locust Information Center at PQPMC.

“They have not been causing additional damage to the crops in other places of the country because most of them have scattered from their original swarms.”

The locusts had caused damage to crops in 580 hectares of land in Dang, followed by 283 hectares damage in Pyuthan. Districts like Makwanpur, Arghakhanchi and Palpa sustained crop damage in 105, 100 and 50 hectares of land, respectively.