Timely aid to Iran helps India check locust attack
STRATEGY India has developed a regional cooperation mechanism to fight the problem
NEWDELHI: Indian agricultural scientists have been successful in tackling the spread of locusts with tight measures and by arming Iran to cut invasions towards India, helping protect 114,026 hectares of crops in six most “at-risk” states as on June 22, according to official data.
The most threatened states where locust attacks have been curbed are Rajasthan, Punjab, MP, Gujarat, Maharashtra and UP, as the country heads into summer-sown kharif season.
To be sure, India is still among five nations which cannot lower their guard for the next four weeks, the UN’S Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said in its latest alert on June 21.
Desert locusts can fly up to 150km daily and a one square-km swarm can eat as much food as 35,000 people in terms of weight in a single day, according to the FAO Desert Locust Information Service manual. The pests, which originate in the Horn of Africa, can flatten farms overnight if not checked.
Since May, India has ramped up containment, in area terms, by 42% (from about 49,000 hectares to nearly 114,026 hectares). One hectare is roughly 2.4 acres.
The pests appeared earlier than expected this year. Adult populations set off in thick swarms from Africa, descending and breeding in several countries before entering India via Iran and Pakistan through the so-called Scheduled Desert Areas abutting the country’s western borders.
Since April, locusts have appeared in large districts such as Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh and Bikaner in Rajasthan, Moriana in Madhya Pradesh and
Nashik and Nagpur regions in Maharashtra.
Among several measures taken to counter the threat, India shipped early this month nearly 20,000 litre of malathion, the main pesticide to control locusts, to Iran under a collaboration to implement strategies control strategies. Containing locusts in Iran helps India because the country lies on the invasion route.
The pesticide, malathion, at 96% concentration, effectively kill locusts, according to the FAO manual. Authorities maintain stocks of minimum 5,000 litres at this concentration at “location control stations across states where pesticide can be mobilised for immediate requirement, according India’s national manual for locust control”.
A surge in locust attacks since last year is being attributed to favourable breeding weather caused by a large number of cyclones in East Africa since last year according to the FAO.
According to Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, India has developed a regional cooperation mechanism involving South Asian nations to fight the pestilence.
“There have been no significant findings of crop damage in the locust affected states of Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharastra and UP to new kharif crops, where containment measures and constant surveillance continue,” the official cited in the first instance said on condition of anonymity. “India has a good experience of fighting the pest from two previous outbreaks, in 1950 and 1993. This has come in handy,” said JN Thakur, a former chief of locust monitoring at the agriculture ministry.